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After some negotiations the deal was struck, and interior demolitions started that day.  That was several weeks ago, and between then and now countless people have spent countless hours thinking, talking, building, painting and repairing—all on a “next to nothing” budget and all with a goal of having it ready for the first service today.

We didn’t make it.

There are big sections of walls without paint.  There are new walls that are studs only.  Card tables support most everything.  The only working sinks are in the bathroom.  The floor is a special kind of ugly - worn and now abused carpet, glued down over exposed-aggregate cement sections seperated by raised wood dividers - it’s not only hard on the eyes, it’s uneven and bumpy.  Words painted in the carpet with the expectation of it being gone by now remain - still visible through additional paint applied in an effort to hide the words.

But we had terminated our rental of the movie theatre, so had no choice but to meet there today.

And it was perfect.

I’ve never been in a church service, in fact, where the building felt so “right”.  It’s perfect because it’s such visual metaphor for me as a Christian, and us as a church—you can see lots of issues, you can see there’s plenty of work to do, but you can also see the progress and you can see that there is a plan.

There’s a part of me that wants to keep it just like it is - just so we can always look around and be reminded that yes - this is me.  This is us.  Faulty, yes.  Unfinished, yes.  But making progress. And there is Someone with a plan.

Some say “the devil is in the details”.  Today I saw God in the mess.

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