“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
This past week was emotional for me. I spent 60+ hours with a group of exceptional Fight Club Resident Men working to rehab the house that I spent most of my formative years and where my father lived for 50 years, the last 23 without my mother whose loss he never fully recovered from.
We were within minutes of being finished when a foot missed a truss and the ceiling came crashing down. An unmitigated disaster…in the moment. The ensuing frustration and anger (I must confess and take ownership) of the team was followed by resilience and collective effort that resulted in a more beautiful ceiling, complete with fresh paint and structurally more sound than what had been there before.
God had blessed me with an ability to see him in virtually all things and I saw and felt him through this week. The daunting task of a complete redo of a house needing significant work in certain areas. The emotion of tearing away materials that contained decades of life and living. The pressure to honor my father (and mother) in how we remodeled, while keeping my sisters updated and involved as the co-owners of the house. Leaving a note under the new carpet where my father’s body was found after he ascended to Heaven. Crying, and those who know me know that I am a crier, as I cleaned the remnants of the week’s effort. All culminating in absolute joy, thankfulness and closeness to the FCRM team for their amazing effort and work, receiving Megan Mullins love and support through the phone, FaceTime and prayer and my sisters encouragement and help in any way needed.
God is in the rehab business. Where we see a broken ceiling, he sees a repaired person empowered to spread love and joy. He takes our old body’s paint and replaces it with a fresh coat of hope and assurance that is the paint of Jesus’ blood on the cross. He looks at our body (the building) and sees a structure that is built for the ages, simply needing his hand of Mercy and Grace.
Things I saw and felt strongly this week. God never sees old, he see next. He never places a condemned sign, he offers a life eternal position. There is no remodel job too big or too broken for the Fathet in Heaven. God is the Creator of all things, the Repairer of the broken, the Lover of the unloved, the Visionary for the momentarily blind, the Constant in an inconsistent World. He truly is the cornerstone and foundation on which he rehabilitates the broken into the beauty created in his image.
So, I am grateful for this week. I am grateful for the little brick ranch at 202 Anton Court that was home for many years and will continue to be home to the next resident. I am grateful for God’s patiently rehabilitating me and creating in me a remodeled son in his image. The work continues.
“So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6-8