Out with the Mold

The past few months have been busy with demolition. Tearing out an old theatre to make way for something new… something different. Initially, we did not think that it was going to be quite as extensive as what we are now in the middle of. It seemed to be pretty straight forward – some paint, new carpeting, a few doors and walls and new lights and BAM, we are in business. However, that has proven to be the farthest from reality.

Sometimes in the process of building, things are done which are not always the right way to do things, or things are done out of quick convenience without thinking of future ramifications. Sometimes people save things, thinking it will be useful later on. As we began to tear out ceiling tiles, walls, and floors, we soon began to discover a lot of things that mystified us, caused us to scratch our heads and wear masks because of what we found. During the time the building sat vacant, the roof leaked. (Well, it leaked even while we were there 15 years ago … it’s a flat roof in Indiana, after all!) The water ran down the walls in some spots and went under some floors that had been added. The old carpeting had never been removed before those floors were built, and then hundreds of old theatre chairs were put under the floors and covered over. Needless to say, this created a nice place for mildew and mold to grow, unknown to those using the rooms above it. It smelled musty in there and we were not quite sure why. After tearing out the ceiling tiles and some of the upper level carpeting, we began to wonder if it was below the flooring. Sure enough, once we tore up the decking we discovered the black truth… mold city. We could not get those things out of there quick enough. The chairs were torn apart (gloves and masks, yes!) and scrapped, recycled, and trashed. The walls and carpet were torn out and fans blew to dry off the damp concrete. We brought in the floor scrubber and bleached and washed the floors. It’s all smelling a great deal cleaner and you can see the “bare bones” of a clean, stripped out room, nearly ready for a new look.

We can draw a lot of parallels to our lives here. Because we often do stuff like this don’t we? We bury things behind walls, hoping that no one will ever find them, or we do things in haste and mediocrity, thinking that it will never see the light of day again anyway so what does it matter? The the rains come and things leak and suddenly that which we buried begins to smell and get rotten. You know, it is so much better to do things right the first time. It’s easier to consider what your future holds and plan ahead. Jesus advises us in Luke 14, “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.” Sometimes we get in reaction mode and forget about planning. We live by the “tyranny of the urgent” and cobble things together to get by for another day, and then once it is “fixed” we quickly forget about it and move on. I have been guilty of doing this many times, and when I have had to go back and redo something I did out of haste, I grumble to myself… “If I would have just taken then time to do this right the first time, I would not be wasting my time AGAIN doing it over!” One of Jesus’ points (not the main one in this passage, but an obvious one) was that wisdom says to take the time to think ahead. Wisdom says do things right. The Bible is full of phrases that admonish us to do things “as unto the Lord” and with excellence. I work with a man who has been given a gift to do things with excellence. He is able to see ahead and think of potential problems or issues that might arise and design the project accordingly. And sometimes I think, “Gosh, maybe we should not go this deep or spend this much time on this.” But when I see the end result, the quality of the work, and the functionality, I say, “Wow. It was worth taking a little more time to achieve this.”

So, moldy carpets and smelly seats. Just the symptom of a bigger problem. When the building inspectors first came in and looked at the walls and floors and said, “All this has to go.” I thought, “Really? We can’t keep any of this?” But it has ended up being a blessing, because it forced us to deal with something we did not know was there which could have had negative side effects on people’s health. Now, we know that it is getting clean and when we begin again, we are starting from the ground up. That’s not a bad place to begin. The bones of the building are strong and solid. It has straight walls, a good foundation and a new roof. We know we can make it a functional, beautiful facility that will be used to bring joy, healing and hope to many. We know that if we honor God by doing things to His glory – the right way – with excellence, He will bless us over and above all that we can ask or imagine. The mold is gone. The new is coming. We look forward to anticipation what the Lord is going to do here!