The Northwest Voice
Share Your Voice
"We want to win dinner, so we took The Voice on vacation!" and you can, too!
Extreme home makeover teaches humility
Extreme home makeover teaches humility
By: Kevin Morrison
Topics: Bakersfield, family, events, celebrations, children, vacation, photos, Youth, church, faith
Posted by kevinmorrison Mon Apr 7, 2008 11:02:14 PDT
Viewed 341 times
0 responses 2 comments
Let me tell you about my house. It's 1,350 square feet, including the garage and it is much too small. The paint is chipping, the trim is rotting, the master shower doesn't work, and there is too much yard work. I wish I had granite counters, real hardwood floors instead of laminate, a washer and dryer that match, a pool, a three car garage so I can fit more junk (not cars), and more energy efficient windows. It bothers me that I don't live in a neighborhood that ends in "Creek," "Park" or "Oaks." In fact my neighborhood doesn't even have a name. Well, maybe it does. I just can't translate the graffiti.
I think about all of this and it bothers me. I pull in my driveway daily, thinking "I can't wait until we can have the house we really want." I'm embarrassed to have friends over after I've seen their houses and I think mine can't compare. I'm embarrassed even to tell them where I live. There are not gates, no key-pads, no community pools or clubhouses in my neighborhood. I wish too often that I had more.
Now let me tell you about the Huante Torres family living outside Tijuana. I traveled with a Bakersfield group representing Christ's Church of the Valley and Kaleo Fellowship to build this family a new house over Spring Break. Eight members of this family, covering three generations, were living in a broken down shack that would fit in my living room with enough space for me to still lay on my couch and watch SportsCenter. And they were happy. The local pastors there decided that their living conditions were poor enough to have Amor Ministries take a look at the situation. Amor Ministries agreed and through their chain of events, over thirty of us from Bakersfield found ourselves visiting this family to give them a very special gift.
For three days, our group, ranging in age from twelve to fifty-plus, mixed and poured cement, framed and raised walls, and sealed a roof that would protect this family for years to come. In fact, the four-bedroom, 484 square foot house was "so big" that three more family members planned on moving into the "spacious" home. Eleven people will be living there, making under two hundred dollars a week between them. You and I would call it the end of the world. The Huante Torres family reacted as if Ty Pennington just shouted "Bus driver, move that bus!" This was more of an extreme home makeover than ABC could script.
My house is a mansion. We lose perspective here in the U.S. We lose it easily and willingly. After three days with the Huante Torres family, my perspective is regained. My house is amazing, and it is beyond me why my family is so blessed to have it. We all should take this trip. Those of us who went down built more than house. We learned more than just a few words in Spanish. And we came back better for it.
Kevin Morrison is the youth pastor at Kaleo Fellowship in Bakersfield.
| Send to a Friend | Report a Violation |
Tue Apr 1, 2008 17:41:41 PDT
I love this article!! Thank you for sharing and being a part of our Having Faith section!
Mon Apr 7, 2008 14:56:04 PDT
Kevin, thanks for the article. Your words did a wonderful job of portraying what so many of us are feeling and maybe even struggling against. It's always more encouraging to count our blessings than our misfortunes or desires. Thanks for the reminder.
Editor's Picks
Let's Chat
| Neighborhood Blogs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
New entries from Northwest bloggers.
What to join in?
Get your own blog for free!
Note that
you must have a user ID
to create a blog.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
New Blog Comments
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
