Strange errors we are getting. At any rate, I wrote a story, and need an ending to it.

______

There was a rock and a set of blueprints, and a house was built upon the foundation of the rock using this set of blueprints.

The house over the years proved to be of solid construction, withstanding earthquakes and storms, wind and water, and even fire. Those safe and warm within its walls never ceased to be concerned for those who were en route to it, and wished them a safe journey to its doors and welcomed them at the gate of the fence upon their arrival with thanks and good cheer.

At times repairs were needing to be made… the beams would sag and termites would eat away at its foundations, but timely repairs were always made by those who lived in the house and loved the house, always in accordance with the original blueprints. Styles of furniture and drapery and paint & wallpaper would come and go, but the house in its layout and design would always remain the same.

People would come to visit and to explore its secret passages, and at in the great dining hall would partake in discussions of the great ideas well into the night.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 26, 2003

Answers

Along came a group of architects, engineers, and decorators. They were invited by the owners to come survey the house and render their opinions. It was a grand old house. It looked magnificent, and those within her walls seemed content enough, but surely it was in need of renovation given not only its age; but also the age & appearance of the other houses which had sprung up on the block since the grand house was built all those years ago.

"That house makes the whole neighborhood look bad," the neighbors murmured. "It was a great estate in its time, but no one is building houses like that anymore."

[continued?]

-- jake (jake1@pngusa.net), January 29, 2003.

lol!!

Hey, the server works again. wow.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 29, 2003.

Obviously, that wasn't the whole story, so let me try again; it's a couple posts long, so bear with me...

________

There was a rock and a set of blueprints, and a house was built upon the foundation of the rock using this set of blueprints.

The house over the years proved to be of solid construction, withstanding earthquakes and storms, wind and water, and even fire. Those safe and warm within its walls never ceased to be concerned for those who were en route to it, and wished them a safe journey to its doors and welcomed them at the gate of the fence upon their arrival with thanks and good cheer.

At times repairs were needing to be made… the beams would sag and termites would eat away at its foundations, but timely repairs were always made by those who lived in the house and loved the house, always in accordance with the original blueprints. Styles of furniture and drapery and paint & wallpaper would come and go, but the house in its layout and design would always remain the same.

People would come to visit and to explore its secret passages, and in the great dining hall would partake in discussions of the great ideas well into the night.

Despite its great age, the house was structurally as sound as the day it was built by the tireless efforts of the original men who knew and loved the Architect, and knew His intentions and were loyal to Him and His blueprints. As these men passed on, so they passed to others the charge to care for this house and to be loyal to the blueprints and to the design from the mind of the Architect.

At length, it came to pass that the house was less frequently visited as in the past; that the house seemed so empty… and what a pity, that such a fine piece of art and architecture be so wasted, so unused, so unappreciated. So many rooms lie waiting for some soul to occupy them, to assist in the upkeep of the house, to partake in the supper in the grand dining hall next to the fire, to greet the newcomers at the gate of the fence.

Of the visitors who did come, many seemed more interested in the fine discussions in the dining hall than in devoting the necessary attentions to the loving upkeep and maintenance of the house.

“Perhaps something should be done to attract more visitors”, some of the occupants mused, in course of one of these fine discussions in the grand dining hall one evening, as the talk had drifted from things unseen to the affairs of men.

So out went the invitations. So confident were they in a healthy response to their invitations that they became concerned about the house itself; about its ability to accommodate what they fancied would be such a great and joyous response to the invitations. They turned their attention to the house itself and began to reason amongst themselves. Is the grand dining hall too small? Are there enough rooms?

A quick check of the basement revealed that many of the supporting beams were failing because of rot and termites. It had been so long since anyone had checked down here. Only a few people had remained in the house these days and occupied its rooms day to day that they could hardly keep up with all the maintenance. And surely the wallpaper and the colors of the paints were not up to par. Everyone agreed to this much. But then other ideas and desires began to surface.

“Well,” some said, “since such extensive work is to be done in so many structural areas of this fine house, perhaps this is an opportunity for us to make modifications to its design and layout so as to accommodate all these guests which, no doubt, will be arriving at any time now.”

Now this proposal bothered some of the grand houses’ occupants greatly. Others thought it was a fantastic and good idea, and by and by, so it was agreed to by most.

Renovations began immediately and in earnest. Dust flew everywhere, and the noise and racket made it virtually impossible for the a few remaining loyal occupants of this grand house to sleep or even carry on their daily duties unhindered. These occupants so wanted to help and to welcome more newcomers, but they could not shake the doubts they had about the way the remodeling efforts were being managed.

It soon became clear that this was a very, very large undertaking… outside help was needed, no doubt. Soon came the help in the form of strangers, hired hands, unfamiliar with the history and the blueprints of the house. They brandished all manner of opinions as to style and construction methods and solutions for a quick completion to the remodel, but none made any attempt to reference the original blueprints.

Meanwhile, though the invitations went out long ago, no one had yet to respond. “No matter”, some of the occupants said to themselves, “The word will get around. With these changes, people will clamor to view our grand house, so remodeled. Rebuild it, and they will come.”

As the confusion of the remodeling efforts continued day to day, the doubts that some had originally began to fester, and the confidence the others had in the remodeling effort seem to creep into new areas of the house… some even wanted to add rooms to accommodate more guests and others wanted to even perform demolition of other rooms, as they did not seem adequate or useful anymore.

Some were so disillusioned that they left the house. They reasoned to themselves that this house was not even the same house anymore; that the original architect and the original builders would never recognize this house as the same house as the original. Of these, some left the house and the property altogether and sought to build a new house in a new place, having hastily made copies of the blueprints before they left.

Others camped out in the lawns and garden areas and waited, confused as what to do. But they refused to leave the property and to go beyond its gates. Others yet retreated into the upper rooms, away from the noise and clamor and arguments and strangers.

The renovators, though, pushed ever onward, ever so eagerly insisting that remodeling efforts, though not to be found in the original blueprints, were certainly in keeping with the general principles of what the Architect and the original builders had in mind with the original intent of the house. “And the new building materials are better in so many ways, are they not? Look what progress has been made in methods and materials. And besides, the building inspector has assured us that all is structurally sound.”

But then there were some who hovered around the remodeling process, pestering the workers and other house members with endless questions and concerns and complaints. These questioners were, in turn, leveled with all manner of accusation by the renovators as to their intentions, their duties, even their loyalty to the Architect, even as to their membership and welcome within the household.

All the while, few of the invited guests arrived. Those that did appear at the gate in the fence, though, mostly came without invitation and from the waysides, and the handful of guests who did come with invitation in hand often asked, in doubt, if they had arrived at the proper address…

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 29, 2003.

Cool. The server takes long posts again. That was all of it.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 29, 2003.

I'll fill in the rest for Jake's story.

"And the neighbors went to their home owners' association (HOA) meeting, held in a local elementary school's gymnasium. And they said, 'The color of the front door isn't compliant with the current HOA regulations. Their fence is 5 inches too high.'

Then, the environmentalists arrived at the meeting and said, 'Those termites eating at the foundations: they are an endagered species!' And finally, the National Organization of Women (NOW) arrived and said, 'If you plan on rebuilding this house, we demand that half of the design and contruction workers be women.'"

Oh, OK...back to work!

Mateo

-- (MattElFeo@netscape.net), January 29, 2003.

Hey Jake (and everyone),

Have you read Ugly as Sin by Michael Rose? I haven't, but I was thinking about reading it. Obviously, this book leaves behind the metaphor for the literal interpretation of Emerald's parable... :-)

Enjoy,

Mateo

-- (MattElFeo@netscape.net), January 29, 2003.

They pull out the plug at a specific forum , I think that was what caused all those troubles , someone was messing with the software:

check it out

Greets from a NON BELIEVER:

-- Laurent LUG (.@...), January 29, 2003.

No no no don't go back to work yet... wait for me!

One of friends; I emailed it to him and he wrote back something along those lines: "...recovered by the State for unpaid property taxes and liens by the workers".

You guys are good! lol. I have to go back to work now too... 'in the world and not of it' is a paradox I'll never figure out.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 29, 2003.

Now, hey there, Mateo... look at the cover of that book you linked to, "Ugly as Sin". Check out the pyramid style architecture; the new house is a pyramid. You're trying to play up on my tendencies towards conspiracy theory, aren't you? =)

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 29, 2003.

Hey Jake

Hey what?

Have you read Ugly as Sin by Michael Rose? I haven't, but I was thinking about reading it.

Never read it, but I know it's regarded highly in traditionalist circles, which means that it comes with a secret microchip that embeds in your finger as you flip pages, and sends your GPS data to a huge computer at the SSPX District Headquarters via sattelite linkup. That's how they are able to tape peoples' confessions and sell them on the internet to raise more money for the Nazis.

It's the mark of the beast, y'know.

-- jake (jake1@pngusa.net), January 29, 2003.

You guys are very talented! Great story. Emerald, you are quite the writer! Do you write for a living?

As I read the story, all I could think about was Jesus invitation to His house, and the doubts we get at times, and how the rock is the foundation of our faith, etc., etc., etc...

I also thought about the Martha and Mary story...when Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, you worry about so many things, but Mary knows what is important." (when the inhabitants were doubtful and worrying about the size of the rooms, etc., etc...)

Good stuff, Emerald...Jake, your extension to the story was great too...and Mateo, liked your contribution as well!

ml

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), January 29, 2003.

Hey, guys, do you mind if I print that story?

I would like to use it at one of my Bible study meetings? I see a lot of intersting dialogue relating to this story.

Let me know, thanks.

ml

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), January 29, 2003.

Go ahead MaryLu, no problem. Writing for a living would be fun, wouldn't it? At least I think it would be; I could be deceived. But no, I have never submitted any writing to anyone to be published; most of my working life has been spent in the contracting business.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), January 29, 2003.

MaryLu,

Thank you! :-)

Mateo

-- (MattElFeo@netscape.net), January 30, 2003.

Thought of you, Emerald when I saw this quote: ml

"If you invent two or three people and turn them loose in your manuscript, something is bound to happen to them -- you can't help it; and then it will take you the rest of the book to get them out of the natural consequences of that occurrence, and so first thing you know, there's your book all finished up and never cost you an idea." ~Mark Twain

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), January 30, 2003.