It has been just six months since I started my first pastorate in Austin. When sister Monique Lu kindly and patiently reminded me about writing an article for Gracious Words, naturally, I wanted to share about my new experience in full time ministry. However, I feel my new experience is too raw and unorganized at this point to be an encouragement.

An idea came across my mind … how about I share what Esther and I learned in the early days of our arrival at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). God did not waste any time teaching us spiritual lessons. He brought us from California to Texas to prepare us for ministry, not merely equipping us with Bible knowledge or deepening our theological understanding, but also focusing us on spiritual formation. Spiritual life lessons are more often caught than taught; they adhere better with practice rather than hearing or reading about theological principles, especially in the aspects of character and sin.

Since the first day we arrived at Dallas, Esther and I had been living in the DTS family housing – Swiss Tower. The housing units were a blessing to married students, allowing us to be able to live on-campus, a few steps from the classrooms. Entering the housing building from the front gate, my first impression of the building was that it was beautiful, modern with all the essential amenities of an apartment.

Soon after we moved in, a note from the building manager informed all residents that there would be a major renovation project to the exterior walls of the entire 10 stories building. The construction involved closing the beautiful courtyard, bringing in heavy equipment, putting up scaffolding, removing all exterior bricks, replacing all windows, and covering the windows with blue tarp until the completion of the project. The renovation was called the recladding project. We thought, “Oh, they are just fixing the walls. Oh, a little inconvenient for a few months seems reasonable.” However, what the memo did not mention was the pain involved in this recladding project.

A series of chiseling noise woke us up early in the morning. The noise was as loud as someone drilling and hammering inside the building. The echoing noise of taking out each brick from the exterior wall affected all parts of the building. From time to time, one could feel the floor rattle when workers chiseled and hammered the exterior bricks out and hauled the unwanted broken bricks down from the upper levels to the ground through a rubber shoot.

The renovation turned out not to be a minor fix or a few month project. The Swiss Tower was going through an extreme make-over. The building was only eight years old. However, it had been encountering serious insulation and water intrusion problems. Rains leaked through windows into apartments. Resealing the windows was only a temporary fix but it did not last. Why? Later we were informed that the stucco and bricks were not properly put onto the exterior walls when the building was built. Days, weeks, and years had gone by and the weight of these pieces of bricks weighed down onto the building structure forcing the window joints out of alignment and affecting the sealing. Eventually rain water and cold/hot air leaked through cracks into the rooms. The only workable and permanent fix was to redo the whole exterior walls.

The recladding project had several phrases and turned a month-long project into a year-long one. It brought us, all 150 families, inconvenience, tested our perseverance, and challenged us to be creative in adjusting to all the interruptions. Families with babies and children were unable to nap or play outside; students searching for quiet corners found it quite impossible. The tarps draped over all the windows for months made the apartments gloomy. Residents felt their privacy was being intruded on when workers were working outside the windows. Dallas’ severe weather, which included snowing, hails, tornado warnings, and thunderstorms, etc., caused delays to the construction. Dust, allergens, chemical fume, debris, and noise constantly grounded us. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the noise to stop, the cracks fixed, the exterior walls mended, the windows replaced, and the scaffolding taken down, and finally, almost forgotten, the courtyard to be reopened.

Despite the present pains, it was only a matter of time until our perseverance would pay-off. The project would benefit all residents in the future. New waterproof windows would prevent leaking and provide better insulation. Restoring the courtyard would bring happiness to children and mothers. There would even be new grills for the fathers for summer cookouts.

Sometime in spring, the residents gathered together along with seminary staff to celebrate the reopening of the courtyard, a mark of the project completion. Swiss Tower was once again a lovely home to 150 seminarian families.

You and I desire to be Christians pleasing to God and a light of the world bringing blessings to others. However, the deadweight of our ungodly characters and habits hinder our godly pursuit. These can be in areas such as lust, pride, jealousy, envy, anger, disputes, idolatry, gossiping, etc. In Ephesians 2:10a, the Apostle Paul writes, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus.” Sanctification is not an instantaneous transformation; it is a life-long process. Like a skilled sculptor, God chisels out ungodly character and habits from our lives piece by piece that we may become His masterpiece like a brilliant diamond with many facets. The process may be through disciplines in areas where we are unwilling to surrender; it may be through hardships in life and through inevitable everyday events to strengthen our faith like refining steel.

The chiseling process surely is unpleasant and it may even be painful when our ungodly areas are exposed. However, “for He wounds, He also binds; He injures, but His hands also heal.” (Job 5:18) Once the hindrances are chiseled out, “we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10b) We become a blessing to others, and others find joy in our presence.

Are we trusting that God, out of His Fatherly love toward us, would chisel out our ungodly character? (Hebrews 12:8-11) Are we willing to let God chisel out the hindrances of our lives to make us into His masterpiece? Why not? What are some of the areas we would ask God to chisel out?

“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” Amen.