Christmas, 2006

[Dr. Manuel recently provided me with the Christmas letters he and his wife Linda have sent each year since 2001.
One of the annual letters will be posted each day over a two week period.]

Dr. and Mrs. Paul Manuel

Christmas 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

For the past few months, Linda and I have been watching Tim, a contractor from the church, replace an aluminum screened porch with a permanent room on the back of our house. While I have neither the time nor the expertise for such a task, I have found the process very interesting, and I have appreciated Tim's workmanship as well as his willingness to explain things along the way. Seeing him lay the foundation, for example, was especially educational. A few cinder blocks on the surface of the ground had supported the original porch floor. For the new room, Tim dug down several feet, poured a concrete footer, laid several rows of block, then used foot-long lag bolts to secure the seal plates, to which the floor joists connect. It is quite an impressive system. He said this provides a solid foundation and prevents the rest of the structure (which is similarly interconnected) from shifting in a heavy wind.

That explanation reminded me of Jesus' parable about two other building projects, one a foolish homeowner erected on sandy soil, the other a wise homeowner built on rock. What I had not realized before, and what any contractor would know, is that both houses, if they were merely resting on sand or stone, would be vulnerable to high winds. The advantage of the second house was that it was connected to the stone, anchored in place, and would not be moved ("dug down deep" Luke 6:48).

Soon after Tim finished the basic structure, there was a storm with such heavy wind that the rain was moving sideways. It was a good test of the roof, yet it also confirmed how securely the building was attached to the foundation.

While Jesus' parable illustrates good building methods, there is a spiritual point as well.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matt 7:24)

The wise man had heard about the proper way to build a house. He knew it required a solid foundation, but that information would have done little good if he did not also apply it to his own building project.

As Christmas draws near, and we hear again the familiar rendition of Jesus' birth, we should look beyond the babe in a manger to the teacher he became and to the instruction he left. It is instruction that can make us wise and provide a solid foundation for the decisions we face.

May God grant you peace and joy this season, and may the wisdom of the savior's teaching guide you through the coming New Year.

Pastor and Linda