Picnic Tables That Last 8/18/13

Good Morning once again.
It's nice to be able to say that. Pass it on in a text, call, email, or better yet in person. I am having a cup of coffee from my picnic table very early on an August Sunday in Wisconsin. The coffee of choice is Door County Cherry Crème. My dogs are running around chasing each other and all is good. It won't be too long and this table will be frozen and covered with snow. I still try to uses it as much as possible despite the cold.

Let me tell you about the table. We built our home in 1994 and in 1995 the landscaping was started. The landscaping did not go too well and had to be re-done within two months. Well of course our funds ran low. I mentioned to a co-worker and friend John Mussa ( who has gone on to be with our Lord) that I wanted to build a picnic table. I asked if he had plans for one. John was very skilled in carpentry as well as many other things. He said that he did and he gave me a list of what to purchase. He said it would be a picnic table that would last a long time. On the following Saturday he would come over to the house and we would build it together. Friends you have to know this. Carpentry and me. It's like fire and gasoline. And really most anything I would build ends up in the fire. So Johns offer was taken and much appreciated.

So we built it together and John explained how each joint supported the other and within a few hours we were finished with our project. John also explained that the wood should receive a preservative spray each year. (This has been done faithfully since 1995.) This picnic table sits out all winter long and all through the hot days of summer. It has never been covered or put away. It did however leave the yard once during a tornado and visited the neighbors house. The house sustained a lot of damage that day but we just carried the picnic table back. Praise God our home only had a broken light and a missing picnic table which my CSI type wife found shortly. It still has a dent in the wood but it survived a calamity.

So what does this all have to do with a Christian Devotional? Here's the answer. When built by a master carpenter instead of a want to be hack, things last. When taken care of properly things last. And so it is with our families and life. I can go back and see every time I wandered from God's master hand in my life and I am not surprised that my life reflected the bad choices I made. I walked away from the builder and followed my own plans. And sooner or later those choices cause something to fall apart.

The Bible gives us God's plan for life and the family. Things happen in life and we receive some dents along the way. Then there are times when we screw up and suffer by our own choice. But a foundation of life and family built by the Master can stand. My recommendation from poor choices and not following the right plan is to follow God's plan and let Him be the Master Builder.

Psalm 127  (NKJV)

Laboring and Prospering with the Lord

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
² It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;For so He gives His beloved sleep.

 

God bless,

Marty