“Repair and Remodel, Cleaning Up The Mess”

It was Friday, February 4, when our mess began.  Do any of you remember the week of the Super Bowl, 2011?  If you lived in north Texas you probably will never forget that record-breaking week.  You see, for one week almost everything in the Dallas/Fort Worth area was shut down due to unusually cold temperatures and incredibly dangerous ice conditions that were left on our roads and highways.  Because of the lack of adequate road equipment to handle icy conditions many people stayed at home, enjoyed days off, and sat by the fire as they waited for the ice and snow to melt.

It was Friday, February 4, when our mess began.  Do any of you remember the week of the Super Bowl, 2011?  If you lived in north Texas you probably will never forget that record-breaking week.  You see, for one week almost everything in the Dallas/Fort Worth area was shut down due to unusually cold temperatures and incredibly dangerous ice conditions that were left on our roads and highways.  Because of the lack of adequate road equipment to handle icy conditions many people stayed at home, enjoyed days off, and sat by the fire as they waited for the ice and snow to melt.

It was during the afternoon on Friday, February 4, when the water flooded in under our front door.  My husband and I had taken all of the precautions we knew to take to prevent our pipes from freezing and we thought we had avoided this dreaded fate.  However, one pipe did freeze due to the lack of insulation needed to protect it from the extreme cold and the damage it caused was disheartening. 

The ruptured pipe ran for about 45 minutes before my husband came out of the bedroom and found the mess in our front hall, office, dining room, living room and closets.  Immediately, he ran outside to turn off the water at the meter and together we started mopping up the mess.  We did everything we could to get the water cleaned up and off the floors.  However, the damage had already been done and the wood floor soon began to warp.  Then, because of the number of other home owners with water damage caused from frozen pipes that week, the remediation company could not get to our house until three days later.  As a result, we lost the carpet in two rooms, two closets, and sheet rock was damaged 12 inches up the wall.  The frustration was just beginning, because little did we know that the mess in our home would result in months of waiting, major repairs, and long hours of dirty messy remodel work.  

The repairs have taken several months and now are almost complete.  What started a few months ago as a frustrating mess is now becoming a new and improved remodeled home.  No longer is the ugliness of bare floors and holes in the walls visible, but instead all you see is freshly painted walls and bright new floors.  Our contractor took the mess in our home and made it into something new and beautiful.  

Due to our sin nature, we all are a mess, full of sin and in desperate need of repair and remodel.  No one is exempt from this mess that sin causes (Romans 3:23), and the only solution to this mess is found in Jesus Christ who will take the ugliness of sin and clean it up…with a remodel job that will leave the lives of those who seek Him reflecting His beautiful glory. 

As children’s ministry leaders, volunteers, and teachers, we must teach children that the condition of sin is a mess and that we all are in need of repair.  They must learn that Jesus is there to take their mess and clean it all up.  He is the only contractor who can remodel and repair the souls of the lost when they ask Him for His help.  He will take the mess of sin and repair the hearts of His children, remodeling them into a new creation that is suitable for His kingdom.   

Don’t simply teach kids religion, teach them to trust in Jesus Christ…the only contractor who can clean up their sinful mess and remodel their damaged hearts.