Construction

I'm a creature of habit -- aren't we all?

Every day, I drive back and forth to my job, taking the same route. And on that route, there are two construction projects.

The first project is just a few hundred yards from my house. First Baptist Simpsonville is building a new worship facility to replace the current one, built in the 70s or 80s (which replaced the original sanctuary, built around 1910!). It is an impressive structure, with classic stone and brick exterior, and stadium seating inside. Everything on the exterior has gone up since fall, and all it lacks outside is the steeple and a few shingles.

The second project is the entrance to my workplace, MARC. As part of a site beautification project, they are renovating the main entrance. Out with the old barbed wire fence and guard shack, in with a professionally landscaped gateway. The new entrance will boast an arbor, lots of shrubs/trees/plants, concrete & brick walkways, and an outdoor cafe area for employees to eat lunch.

In each of these cases, the price of the "new thing" was the destruction of the "old thing".

In the case of First Baptist, clearing the construction site meant tearing down four wonderful old houses. Those houses were all built around 1905-1910, by the same man who built our house. Since Cathy and I are "old house people", it broke our hearts to see these awesome houses bulldozed. Fortunately, we were able to work out a deal with the salvage company, and I managed to get some great parts and pieces to use in the restoration of our house.

In the case of the MARC entrance, demolition crews had to tear down fences, guard shacks, and gates, and dig up sidewalks and asphalt roadways. Plants were uprooted and thrown away, and even the huge flagpole got the heave-ho!

The reason these construction projects stand out to me is that my life is currently "under construction". I am a little past a week into 2008, and the New Years resolutions I made are going well. I have been getting to bed and to work an hour earlier, working through a great Bible study on David, and working out daily at the Michelin fitness center.

Just like real construction projects require tearing out the old, outdated things in order to make place for the new, so it has been in my life. For years, I have been all about one concept: "I am not a morning person". This was my mantra, which I would repeat to anyone who challenged me on it. No matter what, I just wasn't going to get up early.

It wasn't until this New Year's that I asked myself the classic Dr. Phil question - how's that been working for you?

The truth was, it hadn't been working too well. There were things that, year after year, needed improvement in my life, and my old solutions just weren't working. So after some prayer, I came to the conclusion that I was going to need to make some big changes, and prayed that God would help me rip out old habits and create brand new ones in their place.

So far, so good!

Come spring, I hope to see three new things in my daily routine: the towering steeple of the new First Baptist sanctuary, a professionally landscaped MARC entrance, and a new "me" (outside and inside).