Demolishing Walls

The building is progressing at last and the end is in sight but I am getting behind in telling you about some of the early lessons God taught me, and the various things that needed to be done in order to get the house completed.  Because this house is old it had several small rooms and too many walls and so the first thing that needed to be done was to decide which walls had to come down and how to repair the resultant rubble and big holes in floor and ceiling.  It was very, very messy, noisy and scary.  One needed to be sure that one didn't knock down a crucial weight-bearing wall, and one needed courage to take the plunge, be bold, daring and resolute and get those offending walls down. Of course I didn't actually do all the banging and drilling and demolishing, but I had to make the decision to do it.  And now I am so glad I did, as it has made such a difference to the whole feel of the house.  It has let in light and air and given a sense of space that the house didn't have before. Now I have an open plan kitchen, dining room and lounge which is going to be very useful and attractive.  But I realised that one wall, which was at a strange angle and which needed to come down, had been one wall too many.  Now I saw that the lounge actually had no end and stretched all the way down the passage to the bedrooms.  That posed a problem, especially during winter when it would be difficult to warm the room.  So I prayed about it, and thought of a few possible solutions, such as a sliding panel, somehow suspended from the ceiling that could be used to close off the space.  But that did seem rather complicated and would look odd.  Then suddenly I could "see" what to do:  it needed a wooden, cottage-pane sliding door, such as we had had in our previous home in Magoebaskloof.  It would be nice to have a touch of that lovely home in this one and would effectively close off the lounge, without losing the light that demolishing the wall had brought.  So I trotted off to Builders' Warehouse and found exactly the right door - just as I had imagined it.  There was a snag - it had a hefty price tag of R12,000.00 which was really out of my reach.  And one would still need to have glass panes put in so that would put the price up too.  I left it and went on with my shopping.  While driving through the industrial sites, I remembered I needed to go to Build Savers (a second hand building supplier) to find an outside sink.  I think the Lord was prompting me to turn in there, because as I walked into that shop, there in the doorway was "my" door. But with all the panes in, and a price tag of  R4,400.00.  I asked them to keep it and went back to the builder on site and asked him if he could put it in and what he would charge me to do so. He came and looked at it and thought it would work. We also measured the space where it would go and found, to my amazement and joy that the straight line between the two walls where I wanted to put it, measured the exact size of the door I had seen, but with 100mm on each side, thus allowing for a timber support to which to attach the door. So I joyfully went back to the shop and paid for it and they kept it until today when they delivered it onto the site.  Now I am praying they put it in straight so that the slider works nicely.  What an amazing sense of God's provision and guidance!  He is so wonderfully gracious to be interested in the little and big details of what we each are doing in our everyday lives. I'm convinced that if we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness then "all these things" will be added unto us.  I have really been asking him each day to guide, bless, protect and provide for the whole project, but also that he would be glorified in it and through it to all those people who are helping to get the house built, and that he would use it for his purposes.  As a result, I have seen really exciting ways in which God has answered prayer, people have perhaps seen a glimpse of his love, and Satan has tried to attack as well.  Maybe I've experienced a little of what Nehemiah went through with some opposition.  But more about that another day, another blog.

Just a parting thought:  Jesus came to break down the dividing walls that keep people apart from him and from each other.  He came to demolish strongholds and bring down every argument that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.  And demolishing and breaking down is messy, dirty, noisy and scary but in the end something better is the result.  Light, air and space is allowed in.

Building Plans

Well, things are progressing nicely on the house.  Fortunately we didn't require plans to be approved by the Municipality for the interior alterations.  However, having plans for that certainly were necessary so that the builder knew what had to be done.  One day I arrived on site and noticed that they were digging the foundations for the double garage we were going to build.  I quickly informed them that the plans hadn't been passed for that part of the building and so they couldn't proceed until they were.  It was just as well I stopped them as the building inspector came the next day and we might have incurred penalties for going ahead without permission.  We are still waiting for these to be approved.  We are building over the boundary line, so we needed to obtain the neighbours' permission, which they kindly granted.  Hopefully this will soon be approved so that the final phase of this work can be completed.  In the meantime the old single garage has been converted into a small flat which we felt the Lord asked us to do so that we can offer accommodation to a couple of our Eagles Rising students when they finish at the college and go on to further training.  It will also be useful extra accommodation for our ever-growing family when they come and visit in the future.

But of course, there is a lot in the Bible about plans.  So one does well to consider how important they are.  Have you ever noticed how detailed are the plans God gives Noah for the ark, Moses for the tabernacle, and Solomon for the temple. The Word of God says that these plans are exact copies of the actual reality that is in heaven.  We so easily think that the physical world we live in, the buildings we inhabit, the lives we live, the bodies we dwell in,  are the ultimate reality and so we perhaps focus too much on them, whereas the Bible says that the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are not seen are eternal.  What I am trying to say is that heaven is the "Unseen Real" and God is a God of vision, purpose and planning.  He created this amazing universe in such precision, detail and perfection that if any star or planet was even a micro-millimeter out of line, it would throw the whole balance of creation out of kilter.
I can easily see if my builder has built a wall slightly off line and I ask him to re-build it as it would irritate me if it wasn't straight.  How amazing that God is willing to work with us in building his kingdom, knowing we will often get it wrong.  He is so brilliant at taking our mistakes and working them into his eternal design and plan.  He says, "I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."  (Jer.29:11)  Romans 8:28 "We know that in all things God works for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."  
His purpose and plan is to use everything in our lives to make us more and more like His Son.  That is His overall plan, which in fact was the very reason for making man in the beginning.  "Let us make man in our own image."  He hasn't given up on that original plan to make us like himself. And he will take all the stuff that happens, even those things that were not His best plan for us, and weave them into his overall design, even transforming the bad things into blessings if we let Him and trust Him.

When I was very upset because something had been done in the house that wasn't quite how I wanted it and how I had envisioned it, God comforted me with the reminder that He made a perfect creation and His vision and purpose for it was perfect but we sinned and made a very complete hash of it.  That must have grieved him very deeply because when he had finished making the world he saw it was very good.  How much we have spoiled it through our sin, greed and selfishness.  But even in this deep sorrow and disappointment, He knew how he would bring restoration and healing. Jesus is His answer to the wasteland of our lives and our world.  One day all of creation will be healed and made new.  God is a God of restoration and renovation.  He makes all things new and especially he is in the business of making us new, and is able to take the mess of our mistakes, folly and sin and re-build, turn us around and make us new creations in Christ.  Wow! It makes sense to follow His plan for our lives if we want to build what He has in mind for us.

Foundations

I have been asking God to speak to me through this building experience and I was given an interesting insight into how God sees foundation stones.  I found myself reading 1 Kings 5:17 which is about the instructions for the building of the temple.  God says that the foundation stone must be dressed, costly and precious.  Now I thought about the foundations of the house we are renovating and decided that foundation stones must be strong, but certainly not costly, dressed or precious.  Imagine putting a few diamonds into the foundations?  So I found myself thinking about the fact that this instruction was a prophetic pointer to Jesus, the chief cornerstone, despised by the builders, but precious, or as Isaiah 26:16 says: "See I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; The one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line." or the fact that Jesus is referred to as the foundation of the whole building God is building for His glory to dwell in. Paul writes in 1 Cor.3:10 "Each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Chsrist."  Jesus was willing to fall into the ground and die, he was willing to be nothing, to empty himself of his divine glory and majesty and become one of us.  So he is the precious, costly stone this passage must be referring to.  Then I read in 1 Kings 6:18 an interesting instruction: "all stones must be covered with cedar: no stone must be seen."  So we, who are living stones, built into the temple which is His body, also must be hidden, clothed in his righteousness, willing also to fall into the ground and die. This gave me quite a lot to think about.  I know I am called to be hidden, but how difficult that is.  I want to be noticed.  So there is the challenge. The other challenge is whether I am being as careful how I build the kingdom of God and my own life and those around me, as I am about this house.  I spend a lot of time thinking about it, planning it, searching out the right tiles and paint and fittings.  I am not sure I spend as much time and energy on the Lord's house as I do on my own.  But when I confessed that to Him and also shared it with Philip he commented that whatever I do, if I am seeking to do it all to the glory of God then I am building for his glory.  The key is where is my focus.

As for the foundations of this house - they seem to be pretty good and in spite of all the banging and knocking down of walls, they are standing firm.  But I am not planning to dig down to find out if any diamonds were buried in them.  But I am praying that the whole project will bring glory to God. When I was despairing of this house really being the place he had led us to the Lord said he is making it a place of welcome, light, joy, laughter, healing and rest for us and all who will come there. So we are asking him what we should name it. If any of you can come up with a name that captures those qualities we'd like to hear them.  I thought of "Rivendell" from "Lord of the Rings" which was a place of healing, welcome, joy and light but Philip thinks too many people have used that name.  One thing I won't be calling it is "Old Charm but renovated" which is the description the estate agent had put on the advert!

God's Provision of an Angel in the guise of a Project Manager

God's Provision of an Angel in the guise of a Project Manager


Well it seems ages since I wrote Chapter 2 and everytime I wanted to carry on, there was just too much to do at the house.  It has been a bit hectic, running all over the place trying to choose tiles, lights, paint etc.
Anyway, to back up a bit in the sequence of things, I want to tell  you about a really wonderful provision of God during this whole project.  I was very stressed about trying to manage this whole building and renovating project and felt rather out of my depth.  Building a house from scratch (that is known as a green field project) is much easier than renovating an old one (a brown-field project) because with a new one you know what your costs are going to be based on R6-8000,00 per sq. metre) compared with an old one or brown-field where there are some hidden surprises and hidden costs you just couldn't factor in at the beginning.  So it has been very stressful in terms of trying to keep control of the budget.  My architect didn't seem to understand my anxiety in that regard and kept telling me that I had to do this or that (always very smart and up-market ideas, but constantly threatening my budget).  I often had sleepless nights about this, and my journal is full of prayers and cries to the Lord to help me, guide me and give me wisdom and please provide.  Basically "Help, Lord! I'm not coping".  The worst part was when we asked 3 contractors to come and give quotes and only one actually did come back with a quote and it was about R100,000.00 more than I could afford.  The architect said, "Well you'll just have to go with this one, there is no time to look for others."  Just after that the Lord gave me a verse during my morning time of prayer.  "I will send my angel to guide you to the place I have prepared for you."  That was very encouraging, but what happened next was amazing.  We were invited to dinner by a couple whom we had only just met, as the wife, Vivienne, had recently joined our church.  So on the Saturday we went to their home.  During conversation I discovered they had also just finished renovating the house they had bought, and before they did that it was quite a mess. Now it looked marvelous. So I told our host, Rob, a bit about what I was trying to do and he very kindly offered to look at the quote I had. I duly took it to him on Monday. He checked  it over and said he thought he could get a builder to do it for about R90,000 less. Then he suggested that I should look for another couple of quotes, and even if it took longer, it would be wise to get the right builder.   He then offered to be my project manager.  I was very surprised as we hardly knew each other and asked him what he would charge me.  "Nothing." was the calm reply.  "But," I protested, "I can't accept that. Why would you do it for nothing?" "Well, don't you do stuff for other people for nothing? Okay, I'll charge you R1 then you can tell your architect that you have hired me."  "Oh, I'm not sure I can afford that," I joked, "but I would be very grateful if you would help me." I then discovered that he had just retired from being a project manager of a very big company, managing billions of rand projects in Gauteng, and that he also had lectured at Wits on Project Management!  So here was God's provision of an angel to guide me.  I was immensely relieved.


The upshot of this was that he took control of the initial costing and contracting of a builder - in fact the one who had done his house, whom he knew was good - and also advised the architect that from now on we would not be needing his services, but that we appreciated his excellent plans, and would he please let us have his bill.  Basically "Don't call us, we'll call you."  I felt that I was in safe hands. Rob then began to coach me on how to manage a project.  I had to make a list of every possible job that needed to be done and in the right sequence.  I also had to draw up a list of costs broken down into the different aspects of the whole project.  So he was not only holding my hand through the process and making sure I wasn't ripped off, but also empowering me to take control of the job.  He reminded me that I am the boss and I must call the shots. But he also warned me that indecision can be very expensive.  That I learned very quickly. At first, I would think aloud about whether I wanted to knock down that wall or that door, and then found that if I wasn't careful then the builder would go and do it.  And every extra job I asked for would be charged for and then the costs would creep up.  So I had to be very careful to think through what I was doing or wanting.  Anyway, with all of this now more or less in place we started the work, but there were still going to be many anxious moments and sleepless nights ahead.

Open-heart surgery

Well, we had to first decide what we wanted to do. I wanted to turn the house around, knock down some inside walls, convert a garage into a flat and build a double garage. That's all.  I decided that I would use the same architect to draw plans, even though he didn't really approve of my choice.  But in the end he gave me good plans and helped me with important decisions like which wall was okay to knock down, and which one would be a bad idea - "you know that wall is actually holding the roof up at that point so better let it stay" sort of advice.  But basically, what I seem able to do is 'see' the finished product, so I really decided to do open-heart surgery and a face-lift on this old girl. (It was quite funny when we noticed that the estate agent's advert described this house as "Old Charm but renovated" and all my friends decided that was a sign that I was meant to buy it, and that I should call it that!) I am still trying to choose a suitable name for it, but it definitely won't be that one!
The problem with open-heart surgery on an old-ish lady is that it often triggers other health problems. So, having knocked down a few walls to let in light and give a sense of space, we also decided to re-do the bathrooms. We actually needed to because there was a lot of damp. But once we had opted to build two showers - one for us and one for the guests (don't you find it a nuisance when the guests have to come to your bathroom to shower as there isn't one in their bathroom?) then the plumber told us that we would need a new high-pressure geyser as showers don't really work off a low-pressure one.  So that then led to the next consequence - you must now re-do all the pipes as the old ones are low-pressure pipes which will burst with the new geyser.  So now open-heart surgery has led to re-doing the water-works.  But while we are doing that we ought to put in a solar-system seeing we have COP 17 going on at the moment. And so any would-be renovators, beware of  "scope creep" which basically means the scope of the job creeps up and the costs mount.  I have experienced many sleepless nights worrying about that.  It has been a battle to keep trusting the Lord and asking for wisdom to make the right decisions. Okay, I have gone on too long, but let me describe my little metaphor for this experience.  I have started a journey by taxi (English taxi, not the S.African kind) and I know where I want to get to, and having begun the journey I have to finish it, but the taxi driver is taking an extra long route and the meter is ticking away and the money is mounting up.  It is a scary feeling! Watch this space to see how this has all worked out.

Lessons learned from Renovations

Hi, I am in the middle of a rather comprehensive renovation project.  I have been learning quite a few spiritual lessons from this experience and thought it would be quite fun to try and record what I have been learning.  I and my husband bought an oldish house in Somerset West, W.Cape and then rather regretted it.  In fact I went through a serious case of buyer's regret, especially after my architect expressed thinly-veiled disgust at what I had bought. "It doesn't flow; it faces the wrong way; it has so much wrong with it. Why did you buy it?" he asked incredulously.  "Oh," I replied, "We sensed that God led us to buy this?" "Oh, come on, you don't believe that stuff do you?" he asked, scornfully.  "Well, yes, I do.  I find God does lead me and I felt he wanted us to buy this house."  (That night, I hardly slept as I tossed and turned, full of doubt that I had actually heard God correctly.)  Philip, my steady and level-headed husband, had to endure many days and nights of my going over the same ground again and again.  Had we bought the wrong place?  Could I get out of the deal? Can I persuade my attorney to delay the transfer of my other property so that I escape like a fowler from the snare? But each time, he would re-affirm the fact that God had led us to this property and it was his and he would help us make it a beautiful and welcoming home where people would be healed and welcomed and find rest. Yes, he actually told me that and I wrote it in my journal - that's a book where I record what I and Jesus say to each other and it is amazing how much he has to say to me if I bother to listen.
Well, anyway, I've written enough to start off with. But I have lots to share.  Suffice to say that we eventually did take ownership of this house with all its disadvantages - many of which came to light as time went on, and we embarked on a rather huge renovation project.  I airily told my friends that I was just going to turn the house round, give it open-heart surgery and a face-lift.  But in fact that is what we are in the process of doing, and we are discovering that it is going to be rather lovely after all.  And that contains a whole spiritual parable right there.  God doesn't look at us as we appear.  He looks as the heart and He sees the potential and the beauty in us that others can't always see at first.  And then he gets to work on a demolition and re-building process if we let him have his way with us.