I've known the parable of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand since I was a small child. I thought how foolish could he really be. Who builds on a sandy foundation? But having built a standing structure myself, I now have a little more sympathy for the foolish man.
Last summer, from a large pile of wood, a couple boxes of nails, two hammers and our own four hands, Spencer and I built a shed. I suppose we did invest in a couple of power tools along the way, as well. And to give credit where credit is due, the missionaries stopped by a few times to assist us in our efforts. Our intentions certainly weren't to build on a sandy foundation. This is Ohio. There's not sand for hundreds of miles. We certainly made our efforts to prepare a sturdy foundation for our shed. But after it has sat for a whole year now, the front right corner seemed to settle a little lower than the rest of the shed. I was hoping to get a good picture of our tilted shed, but it doesn't appear too bad in the picture. (The main fault seen in the picture is the weed trim bordering the shed. Living in Ohio has brought a clear understanding of the cliche "Growing like a weed.")
Last summer, from a large pile of wood, a couple boxes of nails, two hammers and our own four hands, Spencer and I built a shed. I suppose we did invest in a couple of power tools along the way, as well. And to give credit where credit is due, the missionaries stopped by a few times to assist us in our efforts. Our intentions certainly weren't to build on a sandy foundation. This is Ohio. There's not sand for hundreds of miles. We certainly made our efforts to prepare a sturdy foundation for our shed. But after it has sat for a whole year now, the front right corner seemed to settle a little lower than the rest of the shed. I was hoping to get a good picture of our tilted shed, but it doesn't appear too bad in the picture. (The main fault seen in the picture is the weed trim bordering the shed. Living in Ohio has brought a clear understanding of the cliche "Growing like a weed.")
A tilted shed isn't all that bad. The foolish mans house was completely washed away. And with all the rain we get around here, I guess it's ok that I'm still proud of our shed. It has been well used and I learned a lot of new skills last summer including the use of several power tools of which I've had to use a few times since then. There are certain aspects of building (few though they may be) I am even better at than Spencer. He couldn't have done it without me. And now that he knows that, I unfortunately have to help with more home improvement projects around the house than I would like.
So maybe the foolish man isn't quite as foolish as I once thought. Foundations can be deceiving. And besides, who passes up beach front property anyway? That doesn't sound so foolish to me.
3 comments:
Katie, you are a trip! I havent thought about the wise man and the foolish man forever. Which raises the question...why would you build a house on a rock? Isnt it wisest to remove all rocks from the foundation before you build? So maybe we should rewrite the song of the wise man and the foolish man... I will leave that up to you (I still remember that beautiful song you wrote in college and sang in class--what was it about the Planets?) Let me know when you have the new lyrics together.
I'm just impressed that you built a shed! The closest we've ever done is put together our entertainment center. Usually start doing thing together, Rich gets frustrated and I finish the job :)
Katie -- I'm hoping you will use a great deal of caution spreading your knowledge of power tools. Although it makes for fun conversation among girlfriends, you may find yourself spending many a Saturday toting a toolbelt, (and I can think of many other things to do on a Saturday) I am guessing that wise man occassionally hired out some of his home repairs.
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