Today was another day of Summer of Hope. Something radio stations, K-love and Air1, are 
doing this summer to get listeners out to help their local communities and realize that you don't have to go overseas to help people in need. If you look closely you'll see that there are some on your very block.Today's project was working with Kansas City's Habitat for Humanity.
This house had the siding on it, but when the health department came by to check things out. Of course something had to happen, where they didn't like the wood they used for the windows. So they had to take all the sidings off and replace that wood.
That's where we came in! We had to put all that siding back onto the house. You know, I didnt' think it would have taken very much work to get that siding up, and well you're right. All it takes is some measuring, hammer and nails, clippers, and the sidings. Oh! Don't forget about the sexy hard hats.
It doesn't take alot of brain to figure out how to put siding onto the house, it's when you run into little problems. Little problems like things needing to be a straight edge, overlapping too much, windows being off by a little, tiny little siding in small areas, nails not going in, clippers not cutting so easily as scissors to paper, and there were others.
I am definitely not complaining. It was alot of fun doing all of that work. Especially making new friends during the build. Crying together because of how great our God is, to give these people in our community a new home to live in. There was one point that our siding was alittle off, so I felt a little silly because they had to take it off and redo it.
But it was definitely alot of fun. One of the new friends we made that day, was getting a house from Habitat from Humanity. I know one-hundred percent that I am not alone when I say, that we are going back to help build her home.
I heard from someone while I was at Habitat for Humanity that it takes about a month to make this house, and that these houses last longer than most of the other houses on the street. Personally I think that it totally funny and extremely ironic.
Why, you ask? Well the volunteers that are helping especially today, don't care that we are doing this for money. Melinda put it perfectly when she said, "My reward comes from God." God. God is what makes these houses different. All of God's love is put into each and every nook and cranny in these homes, from the shingles on the roof, to the wood floors in the house.
When I heard that these houses last longer than most of the others. It reminded me of two stories in the Bible.One being the wise man and the foolish man building their homes. And if you know the story, you know the wise man built his house on the stone and it stood firm. The foolish man built his house on the sand and his house was swallowed by the storm. It almost goes to say again, but when Jesus is our cornerstone and what our life is based on, it will stand. Stand through the storms, the cold, the heat, and the peaceful times.
The other story is in Acts, when Peter and the other apostles (Acts 5) got in trouble for speaking the word of God in the city. The counsel told them to never speak of the name of Jesus again, but you know they did speak of Jesus. But when the counsel heard this they wanted to bring them back and punish them. One of the highly respected teachers stood up and mentioned alot of 'prophets' or 'religious leaders' that had followers, but as soon as they died, their followers scattered. Then he said,''So I advise you to stay away from these men. Leave them alone. If what they are planning is something of their own doing, it will fail. But if God is behind it, you cannot stop it anyway, unless you want to fight against God."(Acts 5:38-39a CEV) So basically if it is made by man with all of his foolish desires then it will fail. But if it comes from God, it will not fail and stand solid like the wise man and his house.
So if you haven't done Habitat for Humanity, DO IT! You don't need any experience, cause I didn't, and it turned out great other than a few bumps and bruises along the way. Take friends and just have fun.
