Broken Stones: The House You’re Building
The House You’re Building
Song by Audrey Assad
Yeah these are old shoes that I’ve been walking in
I’m wearing weary like it’s a second skin
I’ve been looking for a place to lay my head
All this time like a vagabond
A homeless stranger
I’ve been wandering
All my life you’ve been calling me
To a home you know I’ve been needing
I’m a broken stone
So lay me in the house you’re building
You are a shelter for every misfit soul
We are the four walls and you’re the cornerstone
And you’re the solid rock that we are built upon
And all this time like a vagabond
A homeless stranger
I’ve been wandering
And all my life you’ve been calling me
To a home you know that I’ve been needing
I’m a broken stone
So lay me in the house you’re building
‘Cause in you I find my meaning, yeah
And in you I find my beauty
(Repeat Chorus)
—
Inspired by Audrey Assad’s song The House You’re Building, the story behind the video below is two fold. First, it tells of my month in Thailand and second, it represents what I am discovering to be true of the Kingdom.
The first story is an obvious one. A collection of moments where God moved hearts and built character as my team joined a construction crew in their current project, a boy’s home to prevent child trafficking in Thailand.
It is the story of a ministry that is changing lives in this generation because of God’s faithful response to one man’s humble prayer to see justice done the day he heard of a young girl who’s family sold her virginity to pay the bills.
It is a story of hope and of promise. A journey to freedom as these young boys and girls are no longer slaves to the fear of being trafficked but are free to grow into men and woman destined to change the world. It’s a story layered with hopeful anticipation as it is still in the process of being written.
The second story behind this video is an attempt to bring an abstract allegory to life, the intangible Truth of the Kingdom that continues to unfold before me everyday of this Race. It’s a visual expression of the poetic description interwoven in the lyrics to the song above. It’s a story that, for me, connects scripture to experience and conversations to prayers.
It is a story of you and I; broken stones willfully placed beside the Cornerstone in the House God is building. It’s our story of being vagabonds and strangers, hopeless wanderers in search of Love and belonging. A story of promise that God meant what He said when He said He places the lonely in family.
It is the story we are living right now; one of discovery that our true identity is not as outcasts but as chosen people with a purpose and a Home. It’s a gospel story that gives hope to the broken and strength to the humble. It’s a story worth getting excited about, one filled with laughter and celebration, joy and connection, as real as the moments caught on tape.
It is God’s redemption story of how He continually chooses the weak to reveal His glory and the imperfect to build His Church.
Two stories in one, this is a three minute and twenty-seven second piece of history that at the same time represents a glimpse into His Story; one with a sure beginning and end, and a series of blank pages in between to be filled with our stories.
Much Love,
Steph
