We’re All Fixer Uppers

Last updated on: October 19, 2016 at 8:57 pm by Paul Asay

We’re All Fixer Uppers 2016-10-19T20:57:56-06:00 Paul Asay

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A confession: My wife and I watch HGTV’s Fixer Uppers, starring Chip and Joanna Gaines, whenever we can. We dig tinkering with our own house when budget and time allow, and I think both of us occasionally wish we lived in Waco, Texas, so we could get the advice of these home renovation experts.

Unlike a lot of folks on reality shows—particularly renovation shows—Chip and Joanna feel real. Their lines don’t feel scripted. Their interactions feel grounded in living life together. You can tell that husband and wife are very different from one another—and yet somehow compatible. And that reminds me of my wife and me, too.

But I never heard them articulate how different they are until I watched this video from I Am Second, which was posted by my colleague on our Plugged In blog. Here: Take a look.

I think the thing I love about this clip is how two very different people found each other … and through each other found different aspects of God. Chip talks about how the God he saw before meeting Joanna was “chaotic” and “unruly,” and he has a deeper appreciation for God’s plan and order now.

Joanna, meanwhile, said that her vision of faith was “if you play by the rules, you’ll be blessed. But then I met Chip,” she adds, “and I feel like now when you take a step out on faith, when it makes absolutely no sense, I think that’s where the greater reward is. There’s no telling where that’ll take you.”

She adds that, in a way, Chip challenges her like Jesus challenges us all. “A lot of the things are going to push you to a place of discomfort,” she says. “A lot of things are going to push you to a place of freaking out.” I think there’s truth in that. I think when we’re uncomfortable, we’re forced to lean on God more. And in that posture, we can better hear and understand what God has plans for our lives.

That’s a hard thing for me to accept. I like my comfortable life. I seek comfort. I seek peace. I’m like the guy who wants to sit on the couch and just be.

But God wants us to be better. Like Chip and Joanna with their houses, He sees through what we look like and who we are and understands what we can be. What we should be. Sometimes that involves some painful renovation, but in the end, there’s laughter and tears and an understanding that it was all worth it.

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