To swim or not to swim

We recently bought an 18' round pool for our backyard. We were all SOO excited we could barely wait! Here are some pictures of our swimming fun!

 My niece Juliana doing a backflip

 Lily really enjoyed her inflatable toy!

 Erik was helping Isaias with a backflip.

 "Auntie Em" and Lily

She loves her Daddy!

We've all had a lot of fun swimming in the pool, and started inviting people over to swim. On Tuesday I went outside with the kids to let them swim and I was checking over the pool. I noticed a pretty big problem. When we had originally started filling up the pool we noticed it was a bit uneven. It wasn't until it was too late in filling it up that we realized how uneven it was. There was about an 8" difference on either ends of the pool. Erik had used a jack to straighten out the frame a couple days before and seemed to work. However, now, one side was buckling under the pressure. The frame was tilting so much that we were afraid the whole thing would collapse. 

That evening we were forced to empty the pool. I wanted to cry. 6000 gallons of water, chemicals, and fun down the drain. Literally. All because we didn't take the time to get the foundation leveled and done correctly. We honestly thought the ground looked even though.

I kept googling and researching how to level a yard. All I kept thinking about is how important a good foundation is. That's what God wants with us. We have to build our relationship and lives with Him on a good foundation. If we live our lives without God we can try to fix things, but ultimately the foundation isn't solid and leveled, and we'll buckle under the pressure. We just CAN'T live life without God and His plan. The Bible says:

....in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. 

John 16:33

We will have have troubles, but with God he makes it more bearable. We have Him to lean on.

It's a good thing we can drain the pool, and start over. Will it cost us more money for water? Yes, it sure will. God is the same way though. We can start over and have a new beginning because of His grace and mercy.

I felt as if I had a weight lifted off of me as God began to reveal His message to me. One of the reasons I love blogging is because it's like journaling to me and God reveals things to me as I'm blogging. :)

Or, to put it another way, you are God's house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior material, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn't your part of the building will be torn out; you'll survive-but just barely.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15

Our family loves God very much. We try to live a life that is pleasing to God. I'm not at all saying we haven't built our lives on a good foundation. However, it's nice to be reminded of things and what happens when you don't live for God. It empowers me to bring others to Christ.