local construction

When the second song of Relient K's new album started to play, i was pleasantly surprised. The first song (Bummin') is a classic Relient K rock tune but the second - Local Construction - opens with a carnival-like piano riff. What i really liked, though, and now absolutely love, are the words in the chorus:

Fix the car
Fix the house
Fix the flaws in myself - it's never done

The song as a whole is poking fun at the idea that local construction is never finished - once one road is fixed, another needs to be fixed. But i think that the chorus hits a bit deeper. i absolutely love the line "fix the flaws in myself - it's never done." The idea that we need to continually be working on ourselves to become more like the image of God.


i've been reading "A Year With C.S. Lewis" (because who doesn't love some good Lewis wisdom?!) and i really connected with an excerpt from his book Mere Christianity:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on... But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different from the house you thought of... You thought you were going to be made into a decent cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

i love that picture. It could be seen as discouraging - that we need to have that much work done on us - but i think it's a beautiful display of God's love for us. That He would love us so much that He is putting effort into every single little detail. He loves us so much that He is constantly shaping and molding us into something more beautiful than we can ever imagine.

And one day all this construction will be done - in heaven. We can have full hope and peace as we rest in that.

we are wondering

C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite people to quote. So far i've read about 85% of Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters and the Chronicles of Narnia, and it's my hope that once i have more free time (hopefully some time in the near future) that i'll continue adding to this list (and maybe finally finish of that pesky Mere Christianity). Last night i re-read an amazing quote from his "Letters to an American Lady" and was struck by how much truth these words hold in regards to my life.

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

i love this because he's not necessarily saying that it's okay to doubt God, but he is confessing that he had those thoughts. And if the great C.S. Lewis was a little scared of getting hurt, then maybe it's okay that i am too.