The Master Builder

For those that know me, you know my family and I just recently finished (mostly!) working on our new house. This 'new house' as my kids call it, is in actuality a 100+ year old structure which we completely remodeled. About four years ago, a severe flood hit the Renfrew area, flooding Conoquenessing creek up over its banks to the tune of a 14' high lake in the middle of Renfrew. Unfortunately for the couple that lived in the house at the time, our 'new house' was one of the affected structures.

In August of 2007, my wife and I bought the house at auction, after my wife's father and grandfather saw it in the paper. So for a small fee, I had a BIG headache! Part of the work that ensued from there was the complete gutting of the house - down to the exterior-wall studs on the first and second floors, and in some places, the floor had to be removed as well so that we could rebuild it. About fourteen months later, we moved in and are still finishing some cosmetic aspects of the work.

Why am I writing about this now? I was thinking back today to all the learning that I had to do through the building process. My father-in-law is a contractor (thank God!) and he was the one to come along side me and teach me what I didn't know (which was, at the time, more than what I did know). In the midst of it all, I had a vision of what the house would look like ... though many times I wasn't sure how (or if!) it was going to turn out at all. The whole process just seemed so never-ending.

So in spite of seeing nothing but exposed studs and wires for a long period of time (and consequently, not being able to tell whether or not I had made good choices in the sizes of the rooms, the layout, etc.) I had to trust that the project would come together in time.

I find that, in many ways and at many different times in life, I have a vision of what my life will look like, but I'm not sure at all how it's going to turn out. It's in those moments when I'm reminded that we serve a Master Builder who is working on and in our lives. No matter how odd something looks at a particular moment, no matter how tough it is to see where this is going, no matter if we feel like we're never going to get there, God will bring us through and complete in us that work which He has begun.

I look back now and think, "Geez, Scott! Where'd all that time go that you were working on the house?!" It really does just seem like the blink of an eye, though at the time it felt like I was in the midst of some earthly version of eternity.

So, if you're there now spiritually, feeling like you're in the midst of something that's never going to work itself out; feeling like God just hit the pause button on His plans for your life; feeling like your current struggle will never end, take heart ... this too shall pass. God's in control. He's the Master Builder, and even when we question the plans that are in place, it's all going to come together!

One of my life verses is from Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declare the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." I just, for the first time in a while, re-examined the context of the preceeding verses in the chapter. Did you realize that God is speaking to the Jews in captivity? He was promising them that, despite the fact that they would be captured, God wouldn't forget them; they would not dwell forever in exile. But, after a period of time, He would come for them to bring them out of captivity ... and then we read verse 11.

God has plans for us - He's the Master Builder, and even though we don't always know the plans of the Lord; even though we aren't quite sure it will all work out, he will never forget us. He will come for us, for He knows the plans the Master Builder has ...