GUT IT OUT

With two 30 foot dumpsters just outside, a team of dedicated people officially kicked off the work at the house today. Although we will not have a mortgage on the house until we move in, it will be ours when it is finished. We signed and mailed the paperwork accepting this home, and that makes it official. So, when we went by OUR HOUSE today we saw all kinds of junk being dumped out of it from the 2nd floor window!

Sometimes in life we have to "gut it out" when going through a difficult season or trial. A dry time in our marriage, with a child in a challenging stage of development, or even through a work-out we know our out-of-shape body desperately needs. God uses these things to make us into the people he desires us to be, and "gutting it out" is often the best thing to do. So, today our house is getting gutted out so that it can be the best house for us in the future. It looks painful, as walls and all the rest get taken out but it is necessary.

It is exciting to think of all the possibilities once the space is opened up. Now that we have accepted the property, we will have a pre-construction meeting with the project manager. This will be our opportunity to discuss the possible layout of the house, including the number of rooms and their dimensions. This vision, as well as the removal of the ugly vinyl siding should really give us a taste of the potential that is in what is now our future home.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

- Hebrews 12:11