Saturday, December 29, 2007

Object Lesson #2 - Tool Shed Demolition

I spent several hours today demolishing an old tool shed in the bottom of our back yard. The building was old and leaky and had become a haven for pests. The demolition process was painstaking and frustrating, taking it apart piece-by-piece, salvaging the good material and tossing the useless into a pile to burn or discard.

Recently Alan Wright (author of "Shame Off You") returned to our church for a mini-conference. During a lunch appointment with the staff, he spoke about an unhealthy or ungodly paradigm as a "house of thoughts" that has been built in a person's life, a way of thinking that has developed. God combined my tool shed and Alan's house of thoughts to communicate a truth to me. From time to time I may find a house of negative thoughts constructed in the bottom of my mind/heart/psyche of which I wasn't fully aware. How did it get there? When was it built? What is it made of? This house resembles my shed, providing sanctuary for unwelcome squatters in an otherwise modestly healthy environment. Though it is leaky and old, this house will not be demolished easily. No, God takes me by the hand and begins the slow process of deconstructing this house piece by piece. He is a master at finding the good material in my negative situations and redeeming it for his purposes. He also pulls out every rotten board and rusty panel to discard. Oh, how I wish he would back his heavenly Hemi to my shed, hook up a chain and pull it all down in one quick tug! Instead, the demolition of my "shed of thoughts" takes time (a lot of it), painful work and patience. However, when it's all done, my heart is healthier for the process.

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