The Parable of HGTV

Hi, my name’s Paul and I like TV. I know, I talk to so many folks who say, “Oh, I don’t have time for television”, or “I just don’t find that much I enjoy watching.” But not me, if I’m not careful, I can have the television on way too many hours. I’m not actually intently watching it, I just like having it on…especially if something catches my attention.

Since confession is good for the soul—or so they say—I confess that I love the SciFi channel, HGTV, the Discovery Channel, and any good old movies…

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with HGTV on watching certain shows. In reality, you can only watch so many shows where they fix up a house and I have to admit I really get vocal when I see the prices of homes today….especially when you think that Sandy and I purchased our first home in Clearwater, Florida for $28,000…come on, how can house prices get so high when salaries haven’t grown in accordance with the housing market….hello…

Anyway, as I’ve been watching several home shows, I was reminded of the parable of the wise man and foolish man and thought about a parable for today along the same line. So, here goes….

First, the show, FreeStyle. The website describes it well. “FreeStyle is a no-cost design show where professional re-arrangers de-clutter, reorganize and move furniture and accessories around in a room, to give homeowners a dramatic new look without spending a dime!” It’s great to watch them scour someone’s home and find items that will help make a particular room invite and comfortable to live in.

What can we learn? How many times do we try to make things better in our lives by rearranging our priorities or try making things better by changing the way we do things? In other words, we try to fix ourselves….make ourselves better….pull ourselves up by the proverbial boot straps. I’m not saying we can’t make things better, but we’re just rearranging things….freestyle…without any commitment to anything new in our lives.

The next show I think we can learn a life lesson from is Designed to Sell. The homeowner joins with a designer and spends $2000 on making their home more appealing to the prospective buyers. It’s great to see how much can be done for only 2000 bucks…evidently enough to transform a home to someplace several folks place offers on to buy it….I do wonder, however, what it would be like if they went to some of the housing markets where it takes a little longer to sell homes….might not be so exciting now, would it?

Well, back to the parable…I’m amazed at how many folks think if they appear better—lose weight, spend more money on their clothes, live in the right house or drive the right car, go to the right places—they will be better. Just like the show, a little upgrading or cosmetics will help to sell the house…hmmm…just like we want to sell ourselves…but it’s still the same house, the same us.

Even though I could go on and on with all the different shows, the third show isn’t on HGTV, but it’s familiar to most of us….Extreme Makeover. I’m a sucker for the show because I know I’m gonna be tearing up by the end of the show. They choose a family that is living in extremely unfortunately situation and they come in and make an extreme change….

Now that’s the third part of the parable that speaks to us in how we need to look at life. They come in and totally raze the old house…removing everything. And then they build a brand new home—from foundation to roof—and replace everything inside. The cool part is when they save something that reminds the folks of their past home. Isn’t that what God wants to do with our lives? He wants to come and get rid of the old us and make everything new….what’s that verse? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Sweet, God sees the Hidden Potential in our lives, and by Divine Design He will Buy Me through Christ and will help me to Get It Together and create New Spaces in my life….somebody stop me….for you non-TV watchers, those are all home shows of one kind or another.

Gotta go…I’m missing a rerun of Stargate Atlantis

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My First Run: Part 2

Here’s what I did didn’t do next…

No stretching.  No warming up.  No running shoes.  No time to digest my
carbohydrate grease feast from lunch.

I was wearing Nike hightop basketball shoes when they came to get me.
About 8 of them.  All skinny and fit.  Wearing Asics Gels and ankle
socks.  Juniors and Seniors, they were, and I, a mere Freshman, who
knew more about the history of Viking sword-smithing than running.

It was a chilly, overcast day with a thick mist in the air, and as soon
as we had made it out of the parking lot, I knew I was doomed.  My
lungs were filled with molten lava.  My throat was about to rupture.
Long strands of mucus hung from my nostrils and massive amounts of
phlegm kept crawling up my windpipe.  Death was near. Read the rest of this entry »

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