Our church is bursting at the seams. We need more space. We've come up with two solutions. First, we are going to two services. That will free up a lot of seats and parking on Sunday mornings. Second, we are expanding our Sunday School, our nursery, our Children's and our Youth programs. To do this, we've looked at knocking out a portion of the Fellowship Hall wall and adding 50 seats. After all this, we expect to gain around 245 seats for both services combined.
Outside of the services, we decided to raise a large permanent tent on a block of ground that we have behind the church. We need it primarily for new Sunday School classes that we are starting in order to more intimately minister to and train our church members in settings that match their stage and station in life. We'll have three, 400 sq. ft. rooms to teach in. Once that wall is removed, the Children's Church is going to move into the tent. The Wednesday night King's Kids program will move in right away.
Today, after Bill Lindahl and Mark Peterson left (they are heading up the actual construction of our projects), I walked around the tent. Twelve hundred square feet. That's how much space we grew by today. Twelve hundred.
There's a lot of work that went into that tent. Months of "should we's", months of "we did and it's on the way", months of "now it's too cold to put it up", weeks of planning and buying more supplies, days of drawing and laying out chalk lines...all this went into that tent. Sometimes it was stressful. Sometimes we got antsy or annoyed. Sometimes we felt unsure when that thing would go up. Sometimes we wondered if anyone would know how to raise it. Sometimes we wondered if anyone would raise it. Then suddenly, in 54 minutes and 20 seconds, the tent rolled out of the box and into the air...and it was up.
As I walked around, I saw a little home plate spray painted on the asphalt. I thought, "this ground will never be a wiffle ball playground again." I looked at the big oil stain on the back side and thought, "this will never be a bus parking
spot again."
This 1200 sq. ft. was suddenly holy. It wasn't perfect, but it was holy. This morning it was asphalt that needed a new seal coat. Tonight, it's a 1200 sq. ft. area sancified for the teaching and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There's no need to bicker over cost, time, work effort, waiting. We just took a 1200 sq. ft. piece of dirt and made it one of the most holy places in all of Lockport. What could ever happen on that lot more important than what we are about to do on Sunday mornings?
Ever see one of those tricks where a person wagers that he can get another person to do something specific, but he already has it set up so that he knows it will happen? I view the tent that way. Man didn't raise that tent. God did. Two thousand years ago God sent His Son to make Salvation possible. Today, God raised a tent so that people hear about it. Yea, but a bunch of men raised it. At the end of the day, flesh or not, God made sure there was a place to have his Word taught.
Three thoughts went through my mind tonight. Since this is technically a blog where I communicate with the parents of my teens, I'll apply them to our relationships.
1. God can take weakness and make greatness.
Romans 8:11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
God, when we give ourselves to Him, connects with that new creature He created inside of us, and takes over even the dead unsaved carnal flesh that is bound for the grave and uses it to make something great for Him. I watched Bill Lindahl; not the spirit of Bill Lindahl, but the flesh of Bill Lindahl; raise a tent sanctified for God's work. Our broken weak vessels God can take over and produce something physically visually good "that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." As parents, we can give US to God and watch Him physically create something good in our children. We often focus on the "do" more than the "surrender". We can teach our children to do the same. Look kids, look what God creates when you give yourself to Him.
2. It is always worth it.
It takes a lot to get kids involved in church, in activities, in education, in attitude, in appearance and in work. What were we really raising today? Was it a 3,000 pound white tarp or was it 1,200 sq. ft. of space to tell people about Jesus? Are we spending money, staying up late, getting up early, working hard, disciplining, correcting, teaching, training or are we creating the chance to tell a child or a teen about an awesome Saviour? Let's always do everything so that we can "minister grace to the hearer."
3. We aren't perfect, but we are holy.
This picture I took proves it. Look at the lower left hand side. That's right. In our holy tent, there is a big nasty greasy oil stain. It's ugly, and it's going to get power washed out of there, but it's ok. The main thing we wanted was a chance to use it for what it needs to be used for. That tent is holy now, but there's still some things left to clean up.
So are we, and so are our children. Holiness isn't just the way we act. It's our condition. Through Christ, I am holy in the eyes of God. I must never forget that or I'll never be made into what God wants me to be. Our kids must never forget that they are holy, sancified, justified, washed, cleansed and forgiven. Not perfect, but holy.
If we can remember our position, it's easier to draw close to God and allow Him to work as He sees fit. Hebrews tells us that we aren't at Sinai with Moses that couldn't be approached. No, no, we are at the top of Zion sitting in heavenly places with Jesus Christ. We aren't servants; we are sons....and heirs. The grace of God must always be allowed to abound in a child's life. Jesus has to be the hero of heroes. Once we feel we can draw nigh to our God because of our position, He can get close enough to start power washing our oil stains. It's too bad we never realize that we are holy...right now. Instead, our kids miss out on a relationship with God and remain a dirty parking lot that's not getting used.
Don't focus on the flaws. Don't point out every mistake. Don't give up. Don't think they've gone bad. Just keep lifting up Jesus and reminding yourself that they have to see Him BEFORE they get those oil stains cleaned up.
Mephibosheth is just like our tent. He was imperfect, but he still got the the best God could give him.
II Samuel 9:13So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table; and was lame on both his feet.
I might still be imperfect, but I'm special. I sit and the king's table, and He's my best friend. I guess I'm like our new tent.
