It’s March, and we only got one update in last month.  Well, here is a little update of what we did last week.

We have gotten around to the wood finishing on the ceiling.  Of course, we started with varnishing.  Then we put up the first batch of boards:

Then we had to varnish more boards:

We decided that it might be worth bringing up the radial arm saw, which Nathanael used very skillfully:

Here’s what it looks like today!  About three-quarters of the wood is up:

But that is not all we have done: in the winter here we get snow, so we had to shovel:

And the younger ones made a snow man!  Get ready for the picture:

Well, I guess you can see that we’ve been busy.  Here are the lyrics to a hymn that talk about getting “To the Work”:

To the work! to the work! we are servants of God,
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the might of His power our strength to renew,
Let us do by His grace what He calls us to do.

To the work! to the work! let the hungry be fed;
To the fountain of life let the thirsty be led;
In the cross and its vict’ry our glory shall be,
While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”

To the work! to the work! in the strength of the Lord,
By the pow’r of His Name, with the light of His Word,
All the slaves of the darkness of Satan set free
And His riches of grace in His glory we’ll see.

Let us keep busy with the Lord’s work until He comes again!

Jonathan

     This Christmas has been unique in many ways, the most notable probably being our “living room” setup.  This will likely be the only Christmas where all the pictures have a construction zone backdrop: Thermax and strapping on the walls and ceiling, scaffolding being used as double-decker chairs, etc.  Everyone enjoyed the different scenery, however, and we had a wonderful day together.

     Each year, we decorate our Christmas tree based on a particular theme.  This year, since we have been doing a lot of building, we chose a building theme: edification, or building one another up.  Though you can’t really see the decorations in the picture, they are all in the shape of houses and each has a verse about how we are built up.

     Now the “living room” has moved back into its original location, and the construction has recommenced.  Dry walling was next in order.  Twelve-foot sheets of sheet rock are not easy to handle, and with the ceiling being slanted, the scaffolding planks had to be put at an unusual angle, but the boys managed beautifully, and we now have a large part of the dry walling done. 

     It is so encouraging to see the work progressing so well, but even as I watch, I am reminded that it is not by one person alone that this project will be accomplished.  Each worker is invaluable and has his/her own specific place in the larger picture.  And so it is in the body of Christ also.  “For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” I Corinthians 12:14-18