How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word
We've been here in Pennsylvania for about a month so far, wow how time has flown by. Jude just had a doctor's appointment the other day, the first since his 2 week one and he is now a strapping 10.4 pounds and doing well. He is now 7 weeks old and loves looking at lights and basically throwing his head back and looking at anything he can get his eyes on. Felicia is doing good as well, living the life of a faithful yet often tired mother and wife, adjusting to life with a new baby. She has been attending a Monday night bible study for young women and has really been enjoying reconnecting back here at home. I (Josh) got a job about a week after we got back to Pennsylvania. I'm working for a general contractor with two other guys. I love the work, most of you know I love working with my hands and doing construction but a lot of it is intimidating because even though I may have done the work before, its all professional quality and has to look really good because people are paying for it. The company I work for does all kinds of construction; roofing, concrete, framing, siding, windows, additions, our own plumbing, electrical for those additions. So for some stuff I have a steep learning curve but nevertheless I enjoy my job, so far we've finished an addition to an existing house, we've re roofed a metal roof, started on another roof and poured two foundations for garages.
A lot of preparatory work goes into building a house or a garage, even laying the foundation itself. Everything must be dug out to a proper depth, everything must be square and level so that what is being built on it can be square and level. It must be a certain height and thickness to give adequate support and it must be reinforced internal with rebar to make it stronger. After the concrete is poured it must be filled in with dirt and gravel to give supporting strength to the foundation walls. All so that the house, what everybody sees has a proper base of strength. I thought a lot while building these foundations about the foundation of life. I thought of first what my life was like before Christ, and what the life of a lost person is like. Jesus talked a few times in the gospels about the wise man who built his house up on a solid rock and when it rained and the storm came, the house and man were secure because his foundation was strong. The fool built his house wherever he pleased and when the storm came the ruin of his house and himself Scripture says was great. The word of God is the foundation of life with Christ himself as the cornerstone off of which the whole foundation is made square and level. Without Christ and God's Word, a man's life will come to ruin because it is not supported by anything sure and steadfast. Whatever you build your life on is important because it would take a lot of time to undo the physical foundation we poured in the picture above, a spiritual foundation, a foundation for the soul, would taken even longer to destroy and start again with a proper foundation. A second thing I reflected on was that in 1st Corinthians 3, Paul explains to these wayward believers that for their lives there is no other foundation other that which has been laid for them already, Jesus Christ. But having said that each believer must take care how they build on that foundation. They can build with permanent materials that won't pass away or they could build with cheaper materials, things that would burn up or waste away. He says one day we will appear before Jesus Christ and our works will be judged, how we build will be judged. So he says take care how you build on the life of Christ which is a challenge to me today to evaluate my life by faith with Lord and trust Him to show me what areas he wants to make me more like his Son.
Just some fun things I've been learning while on the job, hope they encourage and challenge you as they have our lives! We love you and appreciate you all and miss those who we aren't near to at the moment, you are all important to us and we thank God for you often.
Josh and Felicia
Please pray for:
1. Our relationships here in Pennsylvania. It's been enjoyable to be back home for an extended amount of time and reconnect with friends and family. We love our church and everyone we get to see on Sundays and look to see our friendships with individuals as well as the church deepen in our year here.
2. For us as parents. I'm sure most of you know, and I know there's "I told you so!"'s out there, but parenting is tiring and exhausting and we would love your prayers for strength and wisdom and also for our relationship with God as a lot of our energy and attention is taken up with Jude which we love having a child but also want to keeping walking with the Lord and spending time in His Word.
3. Our application to MTC. It's in the beginning stages but our plan is still to go next August so pray we get accepted and that our finances all come together whether through supporters or other avenues. If you'd like more information on MTC and the support we will need, send us an email at jsheridan03@gmail.com
