Still Under Construction--Hotel in Providenciales and Our Own Lives

It was dark when Jonathan and I arrived in the island of Providenciales on our way to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

This is the hotel where we stayed.

And this is what the scene outside our window looked like.

Ladders, scaffolding, piles of rock and brick and concrete and lumber and--well,

mess---with a few blooms on a bush here and there along the side.

 Yeah, kinda disappointing when you are on a Caribbean Island!
We had sorta hoped for better, of course. 

But Jonathan had been told the hotel was under construction, and that was okay. We just needed a place to rest.

We enjoyed the balmy air and a plate of supper (including grouper filet, conch, and passion fruit smoothie) at the hotel's outdoor patio cafe.

That next  morning, I was blessed to read in Isaiah 40, "The isles saw it and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering; and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved." This sounded very much like the work we were going to be doing under Mission Helps, to make a hurricane proof roof on the little church in South Caicos.

But it also sounds like what happens when we as Christian brothers and sisters encourage each other in our Christian walk and in building godly character in our own lives.
People usually expect better of each other than what is delivered. We want to see beauty and finished products, people who look like immaculate lawns and smell like perfect flower gardens and sound like smooth blue ocean with nary a ripple.  

We want products rather than processes.

experiences of grace that we can brag about rather than a humble walk with God that requires humility, patience, and a lot of gulping--the realization that while we have been given pure hearts when we yield completely to the Lord, yet we have a lot of growing in grace to do and a lot of learning.

Somehow when I saw this construction mess it instantly reminded me of the fact that every one of us is under construction,
a work still in progress.

Some part of us is either having to be torn down or added onto,

repaired or finished.

While the hammer is pounding and the saw is buzzing

and the jackhammer is banging, we hope people around us will have a little patience

and more than a little mercy.

And so let us give the other guy a little mercy, too.

I really think that most people around us are not nearly so concerned about how fancy our testimony is or how finished our character is as they are that when they come around us they find rest for their spirits and something nourishing to both eat and think about! When we looked out our window at the building in process, we just accepted it and enjoyed the comfortable room and bed and air conditioning!

We really don't have to try to prove that we are perfect,

and neither do others have to be perfect for us to love them and be comfortable with them.

So the rest of the crew joined us that morning, and we crowded into this little airplane operated by a young female pilot.

It had a hand throttle.

Here is the airport where in South Caicos, with windows of the control tower still boarded up after the hurricane.

There is a lot of repair needing done in that island, and we believe that the Mission Helps crew coming gave hope to not only Sis. Marilyn Marchant, Judy and Mae Been, and others in the church, but also to others in the island looking on.

Hurricanes hit people's lives and homes. Sometimes the damage is devastating and life-altering.

And sometimes the storms are less severe; sometimes we just stumble in the darkness or under burdens heavier than we are able to bear.

Like this little sign said in Big R when I went in a couple days ago to buy feed, "If you stumble, make it part of the dance."

Granted, we conservative folk don't do dance (though I personally think a few skips and dancing steps of joy and gladness and playfulness every once in a while would do some of us a world of good!) but the point is, if you stumble, just keep walking.

Don't quit.

We heard recently about a young friend who had gotten right with the Lord but then he succumbed to peer pressure about something, and now he wasn't trying anymore.
I wish I could have a little talk with such a person. Anyone who puts a young person under so much pressure that they can't stumble without being encouraged to just ask forgiveness, make it right if necessary, and go on, is putting on too much pressure.
We need to lay off of judging how many and what kind of experiences of grace someone has, and instead reach out a hand to help them keep stepping right along in their Christian walk.
If you stumble, ask forgiveness and go on. 

If you stumble, just go a little lower and learn a little more humility--but keep walking, keep dancing those light and happy steps.

I think the longer you go without stumbling (supposedly) the more temptation you have to be spiritually proud.

We are all under construction. We'd like to be a finished product, beautiful and shining and quality.

like this charming little cup and saucer that Judy gave me as a souvenir from South Caicos.

But we're more like the pearls that are sometimes found inside these conch shells,

made beautiful and rare by the sand and grit that irritates and polishes them.

May we be submissive to God's construction repairs, His refining process.

He is making something beautiful of our lives!