We are His Workmanship

So we're in the midst of building a house in Florida. It's been a full-time job! I'd even venture to say that it has been an overtime job! We moved to Florida from Arkansas in January, because my husband's job was transferred here, and although we didn't want to build a house, that's the situation that we've found ourselves in. After looking at dozens of houses (and thinking we'd get a great deal on a house here since the housing market crashed), we didn't find a single house that fit what we wanted.

We actually came to Florida on a house-hunting trip November of last year. We looked at dozens of houses. Looking at houses online before we came, we really thought that we would find a great "steal" of a deal. But once we got down here and started looking, it was a different story. My favorite house that we looked at online was on Crista Court. It looked lovely and had a lot of built-in shelves, which I knew would be perfect for storing away all the board games and videos that we had. However, when we got there and looked at it, we saw how much work would be required to fix it up. The grout in the house was two different colors. It looked like someone had painted the grout that wasn't covered by furniture or area rugs and left the rest. Having painted grout in our Haskell home, I knew this would be a major project. The walls were also in bad shape and in need of repair. There was a built-in TV unit that wouldn't fit our TV. There were many, many things wrong with this house. Every house that we looked at was like that. Many of the houses were in terrible shape or were in need of updating. Since we're not "fix-it-up" kinda people, we knew that we would have to hire all of that work out to be performed by someone else.

Some of the houses that we wanted to look at were "off limits". Even though they were under "short sale" by the banks. The owners of the houses wouldn't even let us in to look at the house. See, they had a good racket going on. Since the house was under "short sale", the owner no longer had to make payments on the house. So as long as they were living there, they were living rent-free. They had no incentive to let anyone into the house to look at it. One owner of a "short sale" even moved out and had rented the property to someone else. They weren't making a payment, but they were collecting rent. The showing instructions for the realtors even stated, "Do not disturb the tenants. Paying $1,700 month rent." Seriously? Is that even ethical? (Rhetorical question.)

So we had a very disappointing house-hunting trip. Two of them, actually. We came down in November. We thought we had a house. We even went to the builder's design center and spent four hours picking out colors. That deal fell through when the President of the company refused to honor what we requested -- and what the sale's lady told us we would get. As a matter of integrity, we moved on. We "lost" that house the very day that the movers were loading our belongings onto the moving van. It was stressful!!!

We went back to the drawing board, and we decided to put an offer in on another house that we had looked at during our November trip. After a couple counters, we finally had an accepted offer. It was an absolutely gorgeous home! It had been a model home, and it had everything that we wanted! A pool. A palm tree. Well, several palm trees, but one of the things Bob wanted when moving to Florida was a pool and palm trees in the yard. This house had both. And it was big. A two story house with a master bedroom on the main level (one of our criteria since Bob is a heart patient and would need to be on the main level in case he had another heart cath or heart procedure). This house not only had a pool, but it had a little tiki bar in it with an umbrella. It was great. It had tons of built-in shelves. It was perfect for us. Or so we thought.

When the appraisal came back, the amount was exceptionally low. The appraiser noted that there was a surplus of houses for sale in the area. This, amongst other reasons, was the reason for his low assessed price. At first the seller was going to go into a "short sale" with the bank so that we could still buy it. He had met with the bank, and that's what his attorney told him to do, but at the end of the day, he decided that he didn't have to move, and he wasn't going to. I can't say that I blame him. I wouldn't want to take a $60,000 loss either.

So we came back for another house-hunting trip in December. We looked at about 60 houses. The last house we looked at was a model home. It wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it was close, and we made some compromises. Bob and I decided to buy it. And that's why we're building this house.

We moved here January 9th, and the builder wasn't able to get the building permit until February 18th. They have 120 days to build the house. So the house should be finished in June. Lord willing, that is. Some days when I go by the house, there has been major changes and major accomplishments. Other days, it doesn't look like anything was done.

For example, yesterday I went to check the progress of the house, and it didn't look like anything had been done. With the exception of UNwork. Some of the doors had been installed into the door frames, but when I went in yesterday, they had been removed. Why would they do that? It seemed counter-productive to me. And where did they put the doors they removed?

I went out into the garage. I found the answer to my questions there. They had removed them to paint the doors. Now, I'm not even going to guess WHY the doors were put up in the first place, but they were. And they were removed.

Today I went to check on the progress of the house, and it looked like little fairies had been working all day long. The rock on the front of the house was mostly finished. The plumber had been there and had installed all the faucets and there was running water. The "tile guy" was there, and he was finishing-up the tile in the bathrooms. Another "fairy" had been there and installed all the return-air register and heating/cooling vents. The pool guys were there and installed the heat pump and other equipment. It was a productive day! I love to see progress!

This all made me think about my walk with the Lord. Some days it feels like a full-time job (relying on self effort instead of waling by the Spirit). Some days it feels like an overtime job (acting self-righteously). Some days I don't see any progress at all (failing to read my Bible and praying as I ought). Some days I see UNwork (choosing sin instead of holiness). Some days I see lots of progress (God's sanctifying work in me!).

In the end, I know that I am not the builder of who I am becoming. God is the Builder. Just as the work on my house is being done by others, the work on me is being done by the Lord (through His Holy Spirit). I am HIS workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. I'm resting on the promise that even though I don't see progress in how I live every day, I know that, "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil 1:6).

I'm grateful to be His workmanship.

Things to Remember While Being Perfected

I don't remember where I got this from, but I like it!

1. Mining for Good - Philippians 4:8
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

2. Rot Not - Ephesians 4:29
"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."

3. Takes One to Know One - John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

4. The "I Insist" Principle - Philippians 2:3-4
"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

5. Go Deep Into Debt - Romans 13:8
"Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."

6. It's the Law - John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

7. The Checklist of Love - I Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

8. Egg 'Em On - Hebrews 10:24
"And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds."

9. Share the Load - Galatians 6:2
"Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

10. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Ephesians 4:26-27
"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity."

Daughter of Eve

I decided to bite the bullet and create a blog. A lot of my friends have blogs -- and have had them for years. I was holding back, but I thought it would be fun to record random thoughts on my faith and family. So I'm going to give it a shot -- not knowing how much time I'll even have to record random thoughts. :)

Today's first random thought ... Comes from reading Nehemiah 12:27-13:31 in my morning devotion. I actually read it online. Last week, I found the coolest "Gadget" on my iGoogle page (www.google.com). It's the "Read the Bible in a Year" Gadget. If you're like me and have a hard time reading the bible on a daily basis, I would recommend it to you. The only "bad" thing that I've found about using it so far is that it's not always updated with the "today's" reading plan early in the morning. But on the upside, it has an audio link, and you can LISTEN to the Bible as you read along, which for me is really good because it helps me pronounce people's names that I don't know, like Hoshaiah. Do you know how to pronounce it? I didn't either! I tend to "trip-up" on words I don't know, so by listening to someone read the Bible to me, I can read the Bible without being distracted by wondering how to pronounce someones name. So for me, listening online is a good thing, because I obsess about little things like, "How do you say, 'Hoshaiah'?". :)

The "Read the Bible in a Year" is from the English Standard Version of the Bible, which is my favorite version. John Piper's church, Bethlehem Baptist Church (http://www.hopeingod.org/) uses it, as do many other churches. Wayne Grudem is one of the translators who worked on the ESV project, and I have MUCH respect for him as a theolgian.

That's my plug for "Read the Bible in a Year", but it wasn't the "random" thought I was thinking about when I started this post. As I was reading Nehemiah, it occurred to me just how many names are mentioned, "Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; and his relatives". (Whew! Thankful for the audio version to pronounce all those names for me!)

Why did God record the genealogy of Zechariah and so many others in the Scriptures? I don't know the mind of God, so I don't know. But two thoughts occurred to me as I was reading. 1) The author of the Scriptures (which is ultimately God -- 2 Tim 3:16) lists the genealogy knowing that those who lived in that time period would be able to verify the facts that were written. No one disputed them. 2) God knows the genealogy of Zechariah, and He knows my genealogy, too! This is no small matter, either. I know. I recently started doing genealogy research (It's been so fun!) But God doesn't need genealogy records! He knows my genealogy and He knows your genealogy, too. All the way back to Adam and Eve! And that was my random thought today. Heather, the daughter of Jackie, the daughter of Mary, the daughter of ... Eve.