The Trace of Grace

A life which displays a trace of grace is faith-based, love-laced and hope-faced.

Some people are born "fixer-uppers." They love to buy old houses with peeling paint, leaky plumbing, tiny kitchens, too few bedrooms and no closets. They don't see any of these qualities as deterrents--only the promise of some future project that needs to be tackled.

Fixer-uppers are never happier than when their living rooms are full of sawdust and their bathrooms are full of holes. They love to wake up to the sound of protective roof tarps flapping in the wind. For these folks there is nothing more fun than eternally being "under construction."

In last week's gospel text, those confronting Jesus in the temple ridiculed his intention to reconstruct the destroyed temple in three days. They suffered from what church consultant Robert Dale wittily calls "Intention Deficit Disorder." Of course, their doubt or "disorder" was based on a more well-established track record than many of our doubts and disorders--the current temple had been "under construction" for the past 46 years! Now...