Wood? Check. Saw? Check. Leveler? Check. Screws? ….

Screws!

And away you go back in the car, down the street, across the parking lot, down the aisle and back to the check out. That’s how home improvement projects go sometimes. You decide to finally build a storage shed or put up a back splash or install that new tile, but it never goes exactly as planned. You are all ready to try your hand at a new project but something is always missing. A Plan.

This isn’t just your problem. We recently started Phase III of our renovation project at Singing Oaks. While I would like to say that we planned everything just so, it wouldn’t be honest. Our best-laid plans had a few holes. We never asked the question “what if this doesn’t fit” or “what if that doesn’t work”. We planned things to the “nth” degree and still overlooked some details. Does that mean we were inattentive or careless? Not at all, only that we are human.

SOME OF THIS AND SOME OF THAT

You see we’ve been through a few “minor renovations” before. And with each “minor renovation” comes a new plan assessing where we are and what we need today. Prayers are prayed, budgets are made, contractors are hired and everyone is fired up and ready to go. There’s only one problem with this: The Renovation only addresses the needs of today, it does not address where we are going. So the by-product is some of this and some of that. We wind up with too many chairs, too few screws and an awful lectern that NOBODY wants. What we need is a Master Plan that looks to the future. We need a plan that directs every detail, provides all the answers and that avoids all possible logistical nightmares.

Our lives are managed in the same way. We decide that we are going to do something different. We make up our minds that we are going to spruce things up a bit. A minor change here and a little fix there and everything is going to be better. We make our own Master Plan and the by-products are too many activities, too few prayers and an awful schedule that NOBODY wants. I dare to even mention the false starts and flame outs.

THE MASTER PLAN

God is the Master Planner of our lives. He has put together an amazingly comprehensive plan that is both forward looking and relevant to the needs of today. While we fret about hanging the right pictures in the right frames, He hung the moon and the stars and “framed the world with His great might”. He made the mountains high and the valleys low, he gave us beauty all around and left no stone unturned when he set in order His world.

He wants to do the same with your life. Will you let Him?

The task of renovating a building is so small when compared with the enormity of renovating the human heart. You may ask, “What can be done with an old heart like mine?” My friend, there is much to do. You can start with the process of having faith and trusting God. He is the one who “knit you together”. He knows the most intimate details of your life. He is the One who has watched over your every step and provides your every breath.

So the next time you are contemplating a “renovation”, trust the one who is the Builder and Finisher of our Faith!

Nicolas Dunbar is proudly under construction by:

FATHER GOD & SON CONSTRUCTION
HOLY SPIRIT INC. EST. ∞

Peace and Blessings