Decades ago, my husband, Wendell, and I helped start a church in our college town. We were still caught up in the anti-establishment movement of the sixties, so we frowned upon things like stained glass and tall steeples. We wanted something new, something cutting edge, something the common man would be glad to enter.

So, we bought a grocery store.

The first person who got saved there came to the alter in a Budweiser tee shirt, so I guess it worked.

We were, however, filled with more zeal than knowledge. We called work nights and had everyone from toddlers to grandparents scrubbing ceiling tile and painting walls. We sold our possessions at garage sales to earn money for carpeting. And we became a church while trying to build one.

A few months into our project, we invited a pastor from another city to come visit. We were excited about our progress, and we wanted to know what this seasoned Man of God thought about what we were doing.

After a tour of the facility, the leader stood in the new auditorium, looked around, and then nodded. We waited for him to pronounce some kind of benediction over our efforts. Some spiritual insight into what we had accomplished and the direction we were heading. “Well,” he said, “you see that column on the stage? Why don’t you run those coils of power cables down the back instead of the front so folks don’t have to stare at them while somebody preaches?”

After we slapped our collective foreheads, we realized we had just learned two important lessons.

1.)  You can’t separate the spiritual and the practical.

2.) No matter much blood, sweat, and tears you put into a project, you still need someone to come along and tell you if the cables are showing.

So, there you have it. My wisdom for the day. Free of charge. Just apply where needed.