Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Psalm 127 v 1

As many of you will already know we moved to a new house, last November, one that does not have a garage, so I have been preparing footings (with help from Ashley) on which to build a shed for my tools and gardening stuff. The success of the shed relies upon having flat and level footings and firm ground. With this achieved and the interlocking log shed delivered in bits I started to build. It is crucial to assemble the floor bearers flat, level and square otherwise the building will not interlock, be vertical or stable. Following the instructions, level floor bearers were achieved.

I have had previous experience in building this type of shed having had oversight of one for the Church Manse Garden and one for my daughter, so I set off with gusto. They way you build this type of shed is to progressively lay one log on top of another, interlocking the corners as you go round from side to side,. You can’t just build up one side at time you need to insert a log on each side so the whole building goes up a level each time. After a number of rows you place in the windows and then continue to build. Now, when I reached the roof height the remaining logs did not fit or close out the roof level. I then consulted the Makers Instructions on how to build it. I realised that at the window bottom level I had inserted the wrong section which meant I had to totally dismantle it down to the window bottom level and insert the correct log. By this time Carol had been recruited to help to pass the logs to me to speed up the rebuild, (she was sore the next day, sorry Carol).

Even though I had looked at the Makers Instructions, once we reached roof level again, the last pieces still did not fit. At this stage I am thinking there is something wrong with the supplied logs whilst at the same time I carefully relook at the Makers Instructions only to find, on careful examination, I had too many log rows under the window bottom level. We dismantled it again, took out the extra row,  fitted the window at the correct level and guess what, the Makers Instructions were correct. When back at the roof level the structure was correct.

What does this teach me and us? (Don’t build a shed three times is one thing). Well, even though I was following the church motto for the year, ”Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men” I was not following the Makers Instructions. I laboured in vain. I pray that this ‘Shed Parable’ continues to teach me to always let the Lord guide me and direct me in whatever I am doing, especially when it comes to doing His will and stepping out in faith. I pray that this account will help encourage all of us, as the church, to follow the Makers Instructions, not relying on our experience or a quick glance in His direction, but by carefully seeking His will and doing it.

Blessings.  Bill Swale