I desperately want to move on. To write one of the two competing stories in my brain. However, this would mean leaving behind the space The Carpenter is taking up in my mind and since this story has so much to offer I can't simply leave it unrecorded. So I'm offering myself a sense of debrief by pausing the thoughts that are unfinished in my head and completing The Carpenter.
The night I read The Carpenter to my children I was not expecting their response. Let me be clear by saying that we allowed The Horse and His Boy, a volume of the great work by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, to go unread for the evening for this little story I had written at our kitchen table. I'm not sure about you, but when your kids choose you over your one of your most influential heroes it does something to boost your confidence.
So, I confided in them my little gem. This story that had bubbled up inside of me like a little spring that had been waiting to reach the surface. I allowed them to see the gnarled village and the love of The Carpenter as he scratched his way into the old man's home. I took them on the journey of the old man and the people who followed him up to the New City. I let them see a piece of my heart and the work that Jesus had revealed to me about the foundations of sand and stone.
When we were finish and I was tucking them in, I leaned over to kiss my daughter and she said lightly, "I know who The Carpenter is. It's Jesus." My sweet daughter could hear the voice of Jesus calling to her through this story. She knew it was Him by His love which is her deepest connection to Him. "But," she said, "who is the old man?"
This was a good question and could be a confusing one for my 5 and 6 year old. My daughter tried to wrap her head around it, "not Jesus, that's the Carpenter...but God? Maybe God?" I think instinctively she knew the answer, but her brain was not ready to make the leap. Here is where my son stepped in.
As I kissed his cheeks he whispered to me "It's us." That's right. It's us. The old man is sent by The Carpenter to tell others about what he has seen. He isn't asked to live solely in the New City nor only in the Valley. He's allowed to straddle both worlds in order to identify as a member of a new citizenship and also extend the love of The Carpenter to his tribe in the valley. My son knew it was us because of his deep connection to Jesus as well, his sense of mission.
The story of the wise man and the houses built on sand and stone took up new meaning for me during the writing of The Carpenter and through the responses of my children. Jesus tells us that this is what we are like when we hear the voice of God and follow the call, strong and steadfast. However, if we miss His voice or dismiss it, the Amplified version of Matthew 7:27 says our fall will be "great and complete".
I'm not sure I understand completely what our great and complete fall would be. However, I am certain that part of that fall will be missing the wholeness of being built up on the rock. That what we feel proud to call our achievement or autonomy may be the thing that is actually counteracting our solid footing.
I also know that part of that building is being willing to be the voice of God for others to hear so they too can be built up on the stoney foundation that leads to our strong standing. To be willing to step out in faith and into the torrents and storms to welcome others into the Kindgom because we are certain we will not fall. Our houses will stand. To not be afraid of the village because we know that the New City is right above our heads.
I am grateful for The Carpenter. I can't wait to see what else Jesus will show me as I dig deeper into His stories.
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