Writings By Phil

March 17,2018

It had been on my “to do” list for years. I knew it needed some work, but was it really that bad? I should have done it when we re-roofed our house 13 years before, but other projects consumed my time and interest and the roof over our patio was never fixed. Oh, I covered it with plastic one time before we traveled out west to keep the rain off the bad areas and, hopefully, keep the water from dripping on our things stored below.

Today, I climbed up there, determined, that this year, I would fix the roof. I thought that I could just replace a couple sheets of plywood and with new rolled roofing, the roof would be as good as new. How wrong I was!

I removed a layer of leaves, the layer of plastic and then a layer of corrugated fiber roof panel that the previous owner had put there to stop the leaks in the original three-tab shingles. My roof shovel tore into those and also removed the last layer of tar paper. When I saw the rotted plywood underneath, it was scary to remember that I was walking around up there just minutes before. Great big areas, that appeared not so bad from underneath, were completely decayed on top and a slight tap with my shovel would punch a hole in what little was left. Of the ten sheets of plywood that covered the patio, eight were in desperate need of replacement!

I sat in the rubble, making sure that I was sitting over one of the rafters that supported the plywood. I knew those were still of sound mind and body! Probably more so than myself! I found it depressing, looking down at the crumbling mess my neglect had created and thinking of all the work that would be required to make it new.

Then I looked at the giant live oaks that surrounded me. They were lush with new spring green. Their heavy branches seemed to defy gravity and reach out forever towards the sky. I loved those trees and felt so much better looking up at them, instead of down at the roof.

In my contemplation, I thought of myself. My heart is rotten to the core, and covered with layer upon layer of good works, religiosity, or whatever to hide the rot beneath. I have seen the evil lurking there and shudder, knowing that it is capable of such vile things! However, I think, “I’m not so bad. I know some whose hearts are worse! Not today, but I will fix it someday.” I thought of the verse, Jeremiah 9:27, that says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?”

I can’t know my heart. Often, it has deceived me! How many regrets do I carry because I followed its leading? God needs to come along and remove layer after layer of pride and self and sin, laying my heart bare, and then, He doesn’t fix it. It is not open heart surgery I need. It is a heart transplant! I need a new heart. It is a process and the Doctor is still working on it. Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Evil is so prevalent in current events. The fingers of blame point in every direction but the right one. Man, who forgot God, wants to ban this and that and the other thing to make the evil stop, but unless God does a heart transplant in men and women, evil will always find another way to propagate itself. People need to look to God to stop the hurt in this ol’ wicked world!

Fellow Pilgrim, stop looking at your rotten roof and look Up!

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