Psalm 127:1
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.

After hours of hammering, cleaning, cutting, sanding, painting and sweating the Lord finally finished the house He was building. And if you think like I do, you're probably wondering what took Him so long, too. I mean, He is the creator of all we see (and don't see!) and I'm thinking that if He was able to create everything in a week, surely a single house couldn't take much more than an hour or two. But it did. It took Him a week and for one very important, obvious reason. He built it through a couple hundred people (and as all of you in management already know, the more middle men there are the slower things can go!)...

See, it's important to remember that God could do a lot of things quicker and better if He just chose not to use us. He could say things like, "Let there be a house," and there would be a house, or, "Let there be a Starbucks in Paul and Wendy's living room," and <WHAM!>, I'd be ordering a Venti Mocha Frappucinno tonight while I watch the deciding game of the Stanley Cup. But God, in a move that to be honest I'll never quite understand, has chosen to include us. He has looked at us and seen our frailty and our weakness and still allowed us- no, entrusted us- to be a part of buidling His kingdom. And I, for one, am a bit humbled and scared by that. I'm not always so sure that my hands are the best hands to hold that kind of responsibility. But who are we to argue with God?

How does the Lord build a house? He uses a couple hundred pairs of hands and feet and arms and legs and gets to work. And when it's all said and done, all those arms and legs and hands and feet have only one response. They recognize that none of what was done could have happened without God and they acknowledge Him in humble praise. And what a sight that is.

We saw it last night at 5:00 pm EST when we dedicated the house to the Lord and gave the keys to the family who will live in it. And hundreds of those hands were clasped in prayer and then raised in praise to the One builder- the only builder- Who can pull something like this off.

The Lord built a house.

And I'm glad He used my hands.

[You can see the pictures and videos from the project @ www.thatyouththing.com]