It was a sad, tired house.  It stood at the entrance of our subdivision, but I never used it as a reference point.  It was too unseemly–the windows covered in plastic, the garage door broken in places, the yard always unkept.

Finally it was for sale.  I’m sure the price was right.  The sign stood in the lawn just a few short weeks.

Then the dumpster arrived.  The gutting began.  The roof was re-shingled.  The windows replaced.  A cheerful little porch was added.

I worked up the nerve to query the three men who were pouring their “sweat equity” into the old place.  I asked, “So what makes a house like this redeemable?”

The answer was quick.  “We always look at the foundation.  This house–it has a good foundation.”

The foundation is everything.  The wise build on the Rock.  Their houses can withstand the rebuilding–the remaking of Lewis’s “decent little cottage” into the very dwelling place of God.

Every day I see this beauty unfold as I drive by the house-in-process.  There is all this glorious mess which takes the old, ugly thing and makes it all new.  Yes, this is just like me!