Its date night! The love-burkes have reason to celebrate
this evening. A job well done, a chance to show it off, and plenty of good
food, good friends and good vibes to do it with!
For the last few months my carpenter-sweetie has been
transforming an old pizza parlor into a new, fun, vibrant pizza parlor. A
Hawaiian/Polynesian themed pizza parlor. Think beaches and bamboo and thatch.
It has come together beautifully and tonight, the weekend before the grand
opening, we get to enjoy a private celebration with the owners, staff, subcontractors,
and some of our family and friends.
I got a sneak preview last week, and even though it was
still in the last phase of finishing touches, I could see the creative details
that my husband put into it. Gone were the garish red counter tops and walls,
the Christmas colored booths and chairs. It's been totally transformed!
almost complete and ready for the grand opening. |
In anticipation of date night, I've been primping already
this morning. Picking out my outfit and accessories, putting on fresh nail
polish and adding extra product to my hair to ensure it has longer staying
power. Putting in a little more time on the workout so I can eat guilt free
this evening. When my sweetie left this morning, I was still in my robe
and slippers, hair looking like shredded wheat, un-caffeinated and mostly
incoherent because of that. When he comes home tonight he will find me totally
transformed.
God is in the transformation business. He loves us,
unconditionally, as He proved so long ago by sending His Son to us, to die for
us and rise again. (John 3.16) He accepts up, just as we are, offers us
forgiveness, redemption, and grace. But He doesn't just stop there. He takes our
old dirty rags (our old selves) and clothes us in robes of righteousness.
(Isaiah 61.10) And still He does not stop. As He proclaims us without sin,
without blemish, He also adopts us into His family, giving us full access to
the Throne of Grace. But there's more! God wants to continue the amazing
journey we have embarked on when we stepped on to His path. To paraphrase Max
Lucado, yes, He loves us just as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave
us there. So He calls us, Come, be transformed! Come be like Jesus
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5.17
We are new! Like a brand new restaurant, ready for its grand opening-- still capable of welcoming guest and feeding people good food, but in a fresh, clean, vibrant and exciting way. We are new! Like an excited wife who's had her coffee, ironed her new polka dot dress, and polished her nails, still me, only sparkly!
Romans 12.2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of
our minds, and that can only truly happen when we surrender it fully to God.
Like the project manager of a restaurant remodel, He needs full access to the
whole shebang.
from The Message:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take
your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and
walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God
does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so
well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.
Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the
culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God
brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
So true!
ReplyDeleteYour husband did a great job! :)