When we came to Southern Hills Baptist Church in Tulsa, we bought a house that we loved, except for one thing. The carpet! The floorplan was great, the house had been repainted, it had fairly new roof, but the carpet was this horrible shade of pink. It was somewhere between rose colored and dirty red, and it was old. So before we moved in we had the brillant idea of putting in lamenant wood flooring. The guy at the store said, "it's easy" it just clicks together like a jigsaw puzzle. I have now come to realize that in many ways "it's easy" are someone's famous last words. It wasn't easy, in fact it was hard. We were blessed that there was a man in our church who was about as handy as they get. In fact we did one bedroom before George took over the project, and it took us two days. It took George one day to do the entire living room, but as we got to the end even George was little frustrated by the materials we were working with which were less than friendly. As we approached the end of the project we were all tired, and weary from our work. My mom had been watching my two year old at the time at a park near our house, and when they learned that we were nearing completion she brough him home. When we came in the door he was so excited he ran over to where we were working and he began jumping up and down yelling Yeah! Daddy Yeah! George. He stood there and cheered us on until we finally put down the last board. I must say that those last board where probably some of the hardest, but they seemed like some of the easiest because of the enormous encouragement we had recieved. I began to think about that scene as I went to sleep that night, and God began to show me that my little boy was reflecting His heart toward us. God is our great encouragement. He cheers us on when we are weary, and gives us strength to finish the course with skill and courage. In fact the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons.
How encouraging it is to know that God calls us His children, and that as our Father He has a great plan for each of our lives.
