Of Porches and People

August 18, 2015

It's starting to look like something, but it's rough around the edges with thinset slopped here and there, and the crack patching still visible on the bare concrete floor. It's not quite as bad as it was before we started. There's no way anyone can make two layers of ratty old carpet over crumbling vinyl tile look anything but bad. All that was ripped out a couple months ago. The pattern the old tile left on the concrete looked like old flagstone, but it had pits and cracks and really needed to be redone. I'm talking about the entry porch of our house.

I'm not even halfway done. Tomorrow I'll lay the rest of the full tiles; then comes the job of cutting the edge pieces, followed by grout. I figure I've got three full days of work ahead of me and until it's done, our entry room will be pretty messy. But I'm making progress!

I figure it's that way with life, too. Sometimes we look at people in progress of being remade, and all we can see is the mess. It's easy to criticize or judge when things don't look very pretty, but most of the time, we don't get to see what it was like before God started, and we don't get to see the end result. Only God sees that, because the work isn't finished till we close our eyes in death. One thing is sure: God is making progress with us. Philippians 1:6 says, "he who began a good work in you will not cease to perform it till the day of Jesus Christ." We are as Paul says, pressing on towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

This is not a time to be discouraged at the work yet to be done. God plans to finish what he started just as I plan to finish what I started. He sees the finished work in his mind's eye, just as I see the finished floor in my mind's eye. The big difference is, God works with people who often resist. I'm working with tile that has no power to resist. The remaking of a human life takes a lifetime, while my little job will be done in less than a week. The stakes are higher for God: life is meant for eternity; when this old world burns, my tile will burn with it. Any way you look at it, I am grateful to be laying this floor and learning this lesson. We often hear it said, "God's not done with me yet." I am grateful for it, and for the promise of his perseverance, not only for me, but for all people; even the messiest of them.