MidWeek Mini: Just Believe

I'll be honest: I’m writing today with an agenda. We need votes in order for our home to win a new roof and I’m going to be asking for yours. We’re one of four finalists in Berks County to win a free new roof installed by Mast Roofing and Construction. Three weeks of voting will determine the winner.

We bought our home in 2012 and it was clear from the first time we set foot inside that owing it would be a dream come true. It’s exactly what we love: historic, full of slanted floors and high ceilings and behemoth radiators and tons of charm. But lest you think it’s purely dreamy, let me assure you that we’ve had our share of nightmares. Flooded basement, bats in bedrooms, scraping old paint from the gingerbread front porch, clogged drains, mice in the pantry, fallen gutters, and a leaking roof. We’ve been overwhelmingly blessed with solutions for most of these issues and have been given so much help in upkeeping our precious dinosaur of a home. But the need for a new roof is one we don’t think we can manage alone. We don't know exactly what ours would cost to replace, but with two main roof sections (one of which is veeeery high) and two porches, we know it would be pretty steep. No pun intended.

If our house were smaller - and closer to the ground - we would reshingle it ourselves with friends as volunteer labor. We tried to get some insurance money for hail damage, but were told that most of the damage up there is not from hail. It's just an old, tired, weather-beaten, dying roof.

For months now, I’ve been called back again and again to the passage in Mark 5 about Jesus raising the dead little girl. While Jesus is on his way to heal her from an illness, the messengers bring word that she has died. They tell the grieving father, "Don’t bother Jesus anymore. It’s all over now." The dad, I imagine, feels his heart break. His last thread of hope is snipped in a single second.

But Christ ignores the naysayers. I picture him cupping the dad’s crying face in his hands, forcing him to meet His eyes. "Don’t be afraid. Just believe," He says. In the absence of an easy solution, He promises something better. He essentially says "What looks like death to you is actually a chance to show off my power." And He rolls up His sleeves and you know that whatever happens next is a miracle. So we've put the crushing burden of our dying roof into God's hands and asked Him for a miracle.

Maybe this contest is our miracle. Maybe it's not. If we're not the winning house on June 21st, then we know there's another answer to this desperate need.

But as we pray for an answer - any answer - I ask you to vote. As of today, we're in second place and there are 18 days of voting left. You can cast one vote per email address here. And if you're willing, please share this post, or the voting link, with your friends and family members and communities and ask them to vote.  

And when your hope is lost and you're about to quit, listen closely and you'll hear Him tell you the same thing: "Why are you discouraged? Why are you giving up? Don’t be afraid. It's not over. It's all just about to begin. Just believe."