Do You Have Structural Integrity?

One night, before the bambinos came along, Ceaser and I had the craziest night. Back then power outages were still a daily thing and we had gotten used to navigating our load-shedding schedule but on this particular night, we lost power unexpectedly. True to form, during such instances, we cranked on the generator and continued our evening routine. We had a little camping gas plate that we would use to warm food or boil water for tea when the power was out. Anyone who knows me knows that I need a hot cuppa tea every evening, whatever the weather and this evening was no different. What proved problematic was two things. Firstly, before the power had gone out abruptly, I was getting ready to boil some rice for dinner and had turned one of the stove plates on. I didn’t skip a beat when I reached into the bottom cabinet where we stored our little camper gas plate, ready to let it do the job of cooking our rice. The second problem was that because our kitchen was so small, I would place the camper plate nicely balanced onto the stovetop, making sure to turn the main switch to the stove off, for safety reasons. That night, however, I completely forgot to take that all-important precaution as I did what I had done hundreds of times before. Once the rice was done, I got the rest of dinner sorted and we sat down to enjoy a nice evening in.

About an hour later, power was restored. We had finished watching a movie and were ready to turn in for the night so Ceaser turned the generator off. I think we were both unusually tired and distracted that day because he also forgot to switch the electricity back from the genset on the change-over switch. I guess we didn’t care that it was dark because we were going to bed anyway, and that’s exactly what we did, falling asleep almost immediately. I can’t tell you how long we had been asleep when we were awoken by a loud noise. I don’t know why I assumed Ceaser knew what the sound was, he was sleeping right next to me, of course, he didn’t know, but I asked him anyway. As he groggily sat up in bed, I tried to turn on the lamp that rested on the top of my bedside table. It wouldn’t light up. My mind immediately created the worst possible scenario… We were being robbed and the thieves had used explosives, a dirty bomb to be specific, to enter our home. “Ceaser, be careful,” I said to him as he prepared to leave our room to investigate. Yes, I know I watch way too much television, but the fear was all the way real at this point and Ceaser was right there with me, calling a friend who lived in the semi-detached flat next door, and whispering for him to come out of his house to see what he could see.

As he opened our bedroom door that led into a spacious hallway, he saw a door lying on the floor at the end of the hallway. These intruders weren’t messing around. I can’t remember if Ceaser called out or said anything to alert the ‘robbers’ that he was awake. I do remember that he had a metal pipe he kept in our wardrobe that was now wrapped securely around his right fist. “Stay here,” he whispered to me. “Stay here?” I thought, “What if you need backup?” He tried all the lights as he made his way to the living room but none came on. Once there he saw that the living room windows had been blown open and the curtains hung funny, pushed through the openings between the burglar bars. What in the world was going on? Our neighbour knocked on the front door which was still securely locked shut, the grill gate intact. Ceaser got the keys and opened the front door. “What was that noise?” Our friend asked. “I don’t know,” Ceaser replied. He didn’t know, but I had followed him into the living room, stealthily making my way outside where we planned to catch the culprits. After a few rounds around the property, the men established that there were no intruders. The main gate was still very much locked and the electric fence was still on.

It finally dawned on Ceaser that the power wasn’t coming on because the main feed had not been switched back to ZESCO. He went back into the kitchen, made the switch and was horrified by what he saw in the light. The stove plate I had turned on was red hot, and the kitchen curtain singed from top to bottom. There was a dent in the kitchen door and a hole in the ceiling. “Oh God,” I heard Ceaser say to himself as he came out to explain what had happened. The stove, which stays connected to the main power source, began to heat up as soon as electricity had been restored. The gas canister in the little camper plate began to heat up until it blew, flying forcefully through our tiny kitchen looking for an escape. The force of the explosion made its way into the living room through the serving hatch, blowing the windows open and the passage door right off its hinges before its final escape through a crack in the roof. It had been a dirty bomb, but one of our own making. If not for the structural integrity of the flat and our angels working overtime to keep us safe, we would have been seriously injured or worse.

Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. ~ Psalm 127:1 (NLT)

By wisdom, a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge, the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ~ Proverbs 24:3-4 (ESV)

For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God. ~ Hebrews 3:4 (NLT)

Structural Integrity is the ability of a structure to operate at an optimum level under the pressure of a load, including the weight of the structure itself. The structure needs to endure without drastically breaking or deforming, whilst still being able to perform its intended use. When I hear the words ‘structural integrity,’ I can’t help but think of life and how our lives are built one decision at a time. The question is, does the building of your life have the structural integrity to endure pressure from the outside, and also from you, while still being able to perform its intended purpose? Many times we go about our lives forgetting that our existence has a purpose and we have a Maker who wants to see His purpose accomplished. What are some things that hinder us from having that crucial structural integrity?

Lack of communication between the designer and the contractor

There is communication that must take place between God, the designer and us, the contractors. God is using us to build our lives, but if we veer off plan and begin to add things to the building or remove things that should be there, based on the original design, we are in for a mess. I think we often underestimate the power of communication between us and God. Without His guidance and regular visits to the site of our hearts, we can never get our lives to match the amazingly unique design He intended. Yes, the building may still look good. From the outside looking in, it may seem to others that our lives are wonderful, and they may very well be, but they could be so much more. Our lives could be fuller, more rewarding, less painful, and more adventurous if we chose to partner and communicate with the Grand Designer.

Poor workmanship

The Bible says that we are God’s workmanship, created for good works. One thing I know compromises the quality of our buildings is poor workmanship and a lack of love for the work by the workers. Their lack of attention to detail stems from a harsh mix of nonchalance and lack of proper training. I wonder if a change in attitude towards their craftsmanship would challenge them towards technical growth. One can only hope. When it comes to how this translates to us and God, it’s all about execution. Maybe you don’t have a problem with communicating with God. Maybe this has been a priority in your life for quite some time. If this is the case, yet you still struggle with the structural integrity of your life, I would argue that perhaps there is a disconnect between God’s blueprint instructions and your execution. Taking some time to bring the pain points or error points to Him and asking where you are going wrong is the best move. It’s not the easiest move, but it’s the best one. It takes humility and an admission of wrongdoing with even the best intentions. God is merciful. He will meet with you and give you the wisdom, clarity and grace to make things right. It may take some time and some backpaddling but He is the best at helping us play catch up and getting us back on track in the end.

Lack of construction experience

Life is hard. I’ll say it again for the people in the back… Life is hard. Building a life worthy of the One whose name we carry takes a whole lot of His blood and a little of our sweat and tears. Attempting to coast through this construction process unscathed without support from more experienced contractors is nothing short of a suicide mission. Do you have mentors? People who are invested in the decisions that construct your life? Do they know where you are weak and need guidance? Do they pray with and for you? I know finding mentors these days isn’t so easy, but it is something that God desires for you more than you desire it for yourself. Pray about it. Ask Him to bring alongside like-minded people who can serve as the big brother, big sister, uncle or auntie that you need to go to when you are not quite sure how to go about things. It will save you so much time, money, energy and grief.

Flawed structural plan

I said it before, our Great Designer is God, our Father, our Redeemer and our Friend. His plans for us are good and His dreams for us are beyond our wildest imaginations. We can be surrounded by great contractors, see the floorplans and even understand how the finished building ought to look, but if our structural plan doesn’t match the floor plan exactly, we will have problems. What I mean here is that if our identity which makes up the structural plan, doesn’t line up with what God says about us, no matter how beautiful those floor plans are, the building will never become all it was meant to be. Our identity must begin and end in God and the fact that we belong to Him. If this isn’t the case, we will always have flaws in the structural plan for our lives.

Poor communication between fabricators and erectors

Still with the construction metaphors… Nothing is worse than having people come through to take measurements for custom-sized fixtures, and then have the fixtures not fit when returned because the initial measurements taken were inaccurate. Again, God is the mastermind behind the building of our lives. He knows how He designed everything and has a picture of how the building of you will look once it is done. Here I would like you to think about the fixtures of your building as being your gifts and talents. They are unique and beautifully custom-made for a specific purpose. If we do not take the time to seek clarity on the measurements, timing and exact location for these fixtures, they will not fit correctly. God wants your gifts to be used, coming through at just the right time, blessing His people and making room for you in more ways than one. If we go about misusing our gifts or not using them at all, they may be underdeveloped at the time when they are supposed to be installed and they won’t fit. Speak to God about your gifts and do your best to follow His gentle guidance as He shows you where and when each one needs to be installed and displayed.

Use of substandard material

Last but not least, we all know that no matter how grand a building plan may be, if the material used to construct it is substandard, it will pale in comparison to what it could have and should have been. Often, when faced with the decisions that eventually make up the building of our lives, there is a great temptation to compromise our standards and settle with what is easier, more popular, more commonly understood and even more appealing. What we don’t see immediately, is that those compromises will begin to show up as cracks down the road. Ugly cracks that we will not be able to cover up no matter how hard we try. My encouragement to you today is to hold fast to your convictions about what you want for your life. Though the expense may be high and the wait sometimes long, it will be worth it in the end. Ask for grace to endure and to keep the faith.

God wants us to trust Him to build our lives. Trusting Him means looking to Him, involving Him and submitting to Him. If you want to have the structural integrity to withstand the pressure this life will have you endure, I suggest you go back to the designer of the blueprint that is you. As you do, I pray that you see the wonders of His building expertise.