The Blocks That Build

During the mission trip to Honduras, we had floors to pour, walls to build, and bathrooms to finish.  And in Honduras there are no cement mixer trucks or even machines that mix.  They do things the old-fashioned way.  Needless to say there was a lot of sweat equity in each layer of blocks.

The teams mixed bags of concrete, water, rock together to make a kitchen floor, a cinder block shower, some bathroom stalls and walls for some classrooms.  This team of strangers worked together like a well-oiled machine to make the living conditions of families better and improve the Mission of Mercy Child Development Project.  Even though we loaded up with our best tools and muscles, we know that God made things the construction possible.  He worked through each pair of hands as His plan came together.

God made much out of our little.   

They don't have much in the way of building supplies.  We even scraped the extra cement from the layers of mortar that plopped on the ground and recycled it back into the mix.  What's a few blades of grass or a few more dirt crumbles?  Outside of using our hands we used a plastic scoop to collect as much waste as we could.  Every drop of mortar was important.

Before the crew actually started though I took a few minutes to reflect on the foundation of the projects. It was well planned and mapped out with forms and strings to keep the blocks aligned.  There was some rebar to strengthened the corners.  The foreman took some time to make a plan for the best result.  A firm foundation is critical in the strength of the building as a whole.  

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  Luke 6:48

There is a layer of prayer that bonds foundations too and God reminded me that prayer is the secret strength that makes our faith foundation strong.  He has His best plans laid out for us, held together with His lovely disciplines and great rules for living as lined out in His Word.  All we need to do is live according to His blueprint as he has designed.  His truth keep us aligned.  He even gives us glimpses of His power with miracles that strengthen our walls.  As we look to Him as our Foreman, He makes His wise plans painstakingly beautiful.  

God makes much out of our little.

Even when He has to scrape our leftovers.

That's a firm faith foundation built on trust in the Master Craftsman.