under construction

So after a whirlwind 2 weeks of packing, moving, unpacking, and trying to catch our collective
breaths, I find myself finally able to sit down for a few minutes to record my thoughts.  Providentially, our new home is located, once again, 50 yards from a wonderfully caffeinated environment.  Really... where in Seattle is this not the case?  Regardless, I am very grateful, once again, to have such a work environment.  I can already tell that it will provide a great vantage point to the subplots and characters of our new chapter.   When I stop long enough to think about it, I realize that I am very fortunate that God generally has my story playing out as my own virtual metaphor.  This morning I stopped just long enough to be reminded of that.  While walking through the, yet to be finished, courtyard at our new home I was encouraged to sit down on a bench for a few moments, between boxes, and record the photo in this post. 
As I sat there it occurred to me how much I was anticipating the finished product.  I was struggling trying to imagine what it might look like without the heavy equipment, the fences and the fluorescently vested people charged with carrying out the plan.  It caused me to think further back to a time when someone, completely unknown to me, presented a vision of what this would all look like one day...most likely complete with artwork and computer generated walk arounds.  Having been through a significant building process before I am reminded that someone picks up the first shovel and digs the first hole and then it begins...the following of the plans till the place of completion when life finally looks somewhat like the vision.  We are somewhat in that place now, as the community known as Common Table.  We are under construction.  We now physically live in the midst of it even as we are virtually under construction ourselves.  It would be nice if I had the finished view somewhere on display so that I could always point myself and others to it ... so I could answer good, well intentioned and legitimate questions with something more significant than "I don't know".  I am still confident though that this is a good place to be.  How many of us understand the danger of our "experience"?  What I am referring to is the point where our familiarity with a process leads to carelessness as assumptions.  So far I only know that we should, as the great book of Jeremiah reminds me in chapter 29, settle into and dwell in the city that we love, while we pray for and work for its prosperity (my paraphrase).  Our only manual is the life of Jesus and the conviction that if he is here, through the lives of his followers and the community of his church, then people will be drawn to him.  He is the point, the finished product.
So as I continue to imagine...I am reminded that the finished product is not an accident.  You need to follow the plans of those who first envisioned it.   As the one in the fluorescent vest, you realize that you are not the planner.  You are the follower ...and in fact you usually are only privileged to have one part at a time.  I am ok with that for now ... it's part of my own construction process.  As for the rest and how it all plays out... for now I am content with "I don't know".