By Josh Weidmann on Friday, March 28, 2008 12:20 AM

Well, it was the third day on the job here in New Orleans and we've filled many dumpsters.

Today we finished the house we started yesterday - a four-day job, done in two! It was hard work, but it felt good to get done everything we could. I suppose there is still much to be done, so I can't say it is "Finished" but at least our part is complete. The experts are going to have to take it from here.

This afternoon, after filling a 40 yard long dumpster full of old stuff that was once of value down to the last nail, I couldn't help but think about the renovation God often performs on those of us that are in worse shape spiritually than this home was physically. I don't want to over spiritualize this here, but think about the work God does on our lives when he wants to recreate us. Just as I had to do stuff like tear apart old moldy walls and scrape off carpet glue from the foundation, so God comes in and pulls us to pieces. He takes out the things in our life that must go in order for the new to come. This may not mean that everything he removes was bad, but it needed to go for the sake of total renovation. In some cases (like the house), nothing can stay because any remnant of old will only corrupt the new.

As we were hauling one of our many loads to the dumpster today, a students on my team said, "Man, it just keeps coming..." And yes, it did... load after load, it was amazing to watch the amount of stuff that has to come out of a house just to get it down to the studs and the foundation. Same with us; sometimes the things God has to pull out of us "just keep coming." He pounds, strips, pulls, yanks and taps... all to do whatever it takes to excavate the old and prepare for the new.

If he is working on you as he is me, let God do His work completely. Allow him to remove and discard the stuff that must go. It may be painful to bear, but trust that it is going to be better when it is finished... no matter how long the process may take.

By Josh Weidmann on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:54 PM

Well, here I sit in a dark corner writing to you from a room full of sleeping, smelly boys. It's been a long day and the sound of snoring is the anthem of the evening. The teens that are down here on this trip with me from my church (and two others - Harvest Elgin and Harvest Crystal Lake) are being used by God and transformed by Him in great ways.

Today was the second of four work days this week. Yesterday we spent the majority of the day working in a site that had already been gutted and needed a few more final touches (like "Mold Remediation" - a new phrase and task i never knew). Then, this morning we were on to a new house where we had to do everthing - floor to roof, yard to attic. It was intense. This house had barely been touched since the hurricane two and a half years ago. We dug through this vacated residence finding things the way they were when the people left the morning of Katrina. The month wash was still on the counter, the dirty dishes still in the sink, and all of their belongings aroudn the house. Then there were somethings that wer totally displaced; many things were through out the house because when it was flooded, anything that could float, did float. The walls had rotted and crumbled. The mold had set in deep into the wood. The owner, Dave, - still devestated - broke out in hives at the sight of all this tragedy once again.

However, after lots of hard word, we were about to get the yard back to a managable state. The large inground pool in the backyard was rediscovered, and the first two rooms of the house were gutted. I am so proud of my students! They glorified God so much today!

As i now go to rest my head fo rhet night, I will vividly carry with me this thought - "This world is not my home." If I lost everything like the people here did, I hope my reaction would be the same as Dave's (the homeowner today) - "It is just stuff - everything that is important to me is safe - we'll just start over now, you can trash it all."

May we always count everything as rubish in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus our Lord!

Good night from New Orleans.

By Josh Weidmann on Saturday, March 22, 2008 1:40 AM

Coram Deo literally means "before the face of God". It carries the notion of our living in the presence of God, under the authority of God and to the honor and glory of God. It is what each person was designed for by their Creator.

By Josh Weidmann on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:02 PM

By Josh Weidmann on Sunday, March 09, 2008 3:08 PM