The Project
Engineering Design starts with a need. The client, typically a municipality or state agency that is working on infrastructure, presents a problem or concern to the Engineer and asks for solutions.
In the lifecycle of that project the engineer must understand the given context of the city streets, stormwater drainage systems, or waste treatment processes. Only with that understanding can they better define the problem and look for solutions that are cost effective and meet the need of client, community, and daily user.
The project is a journey from start to finish and as we’ve discussed before it can change quite rapidly in the field.
Assumptions were incorrect, unforeseen site conditions, whatever the case may be there are bumps along the road, when constructing the design, that require attention to detail and active participation.
This is not only true for the life-cycle of a construction project but it is also true for the construction of our lives. Seasons that were assumed to be easy were very difficult, tough seasons present a joy that doesn’t make sense given the circumstance, the reality of life is much like the reality of a project.
The process can be grueling but the end result is an improved quality of life and keeps the system running for far longer to serve the community. I want to encourage someone today that your life is the same way.
As you work through the difficult process of ‘getting your house in order’ the reality is sometimes painful but the outcome is a life that ministers the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone you meet.
The Reality
Sometimes things just don’t work.
Recently, a project our company did has run into a significant problem. The mechanical systems that we invested in just don’t work.
All the tests have been done, the designs were right, math was working, even the manufacturer said, ‘by all rights these pumps should be operating like this (the design that we chose them for).’
The reality was that they weren’t.
Now there are really only a few options here and none of them are fantastic. The one thing that is not helpful is to give up all hope and quit. Manufacturer, engineer, and contractor could all bicker and resolve nothing but a community would be underserved and may even lose water service.
Now, that is quite an oversimplification of the detailed processes and relationships that happen in the ‘real’ engineering world; however, the principle in its simplicity is true and shows us something telling about our life with Christ.
Sometimes our plans, positions, practices, just don’t work. It is not time to lose hope and give up when things just do not seem to be working but it is time to ask God what is something that I CAN do to take the next step you are calling me to.
When Materials aren’t Working
Sometimes the problem isn’t the plan. It’s the materials.
On paper, those pumps were the right choice. The data sheets said so. The curves said so. The manufacturer said so. But materials have to perform in the real world, not just on a data sheet.
Our lives are built with materials too. Habits, routines, the way we handle conflict, the way we spend our evenings, the way we pray (or don’t). Some of these materials looked great when we picked them out. They worked for someone else. They worked in a different season. But once they were installed in our real lives, they just didn’t perform the way we expected.
Paul tells us that the work of our lives will be tested:
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. … Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. — 1 Corinthians 3:10–11, 13
Notice the foundation is never the problem. Jesus Christ is a sure foundation. It is what we build on top of Him that has to be tested.
When a material isn’t working, the answer is not to tear down the whole building. You troubleshoot. You test. You find what is failing and you replace it with something that will hold.
Maybe it’s a morning routine that never actually happens. Maybe it’s a schedule with no margin. Maybe it’s trying to carry the load in our own strength instead of leaning on the Lord. Whatever it is, ask the Holy Spirit to show you the part that is failing, and be willing to swap it out.
When the Site Isn’t Cooperating
I am a father of two wonderful, rowdy boys and our lives are full. The reality of our lives is that even with the best of intentions to plan, be routine, and execute the life we have designed…..the site just doesn’t cooperate.
Sometimes in construction of a project you encounter unexpected grades, buried utilities, property lines, and the worst of all ROCK.
The reality of these unexpected site conditions is that they make the construction of the design, as intended, truly impossible. A new solution is needed.
There are a few impacts that occur that make this stressful — time and money. Neither of which a project schedule or budget have to spare.
Our lives usually have the same constraints. Our time and money, in a physical sense, but also in a spiritual sense are limited. Our emotional bank account is often tapped out to its max and may even already be overdrawn when our children get sick the day of a significant commitment.
Now everyone can say that this does not bother them because they will drop everything for their children; however, this truth does not make the emotional, physical, and spiritual demand any less significant.
When the site isn’t cooperating the only thing you can do is ‘slow down and figure it out.’
This is what we tell our son all the time, we cannot always do it the way we want to so instead of wasting our emotional currency on things that cannot change we must spend our time finding a new solution.
The field engineering of our lives often requires our patience and commitment to gentleness and kindness one for another as we sort out the next steps that will keep the build going. It will look different than we planned but our destination will be the same — a healthy Christ-centered life that is glorifying God in all we do.
The Theory
Every project is built on theory before it is ever built in concrete.
Before a single shovel hits the ground, the engineer has already built the whole thing on paper. Calculations, models, and drawings. It is a picture of what we believe will work based on everything we know.
The trouble is, we never know everything.
Assumptions Have to Be Made
We cannot see underground. We take soil borings in a few spots and assume the ground in between behaves the same way. We project flows twenty years into the future. We estimate how a community will grow. We trust the manufacturer’s data.
Assumptions are not a weakness of design. They are a necessity. You cannot design anything without them. Good engineers make the best assumptions they can with the best data available, and then they build in a factor of safety because they know they will not get it all right.
Our lives are no different. We have to make plans. We assume the new job will be a good fit. We assume this season will slow down after the holidays. We assume the kids will sleep through the night (any day now).
Planning is not the problem. The Bible does not tell us to stop planning. It tells us to hold our plans with an open hand.
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. … For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. — James 4:13–15
“If the Lord will” is the factor of safety for the believer. It is the humility to say, “Lord, this is my best plan, but You see what I can’t.”
What Happens When They are Wrong?
Eventually, an assumption will be wrong. It is not a matter of if, but when.
On a project, we have tools for this. The contractor asks a question. The engineer verifies conditions in the field. The design gets revised and a change is issued. It is not glamorous, but it keeps the project moving.
What we do not do is abandon the project. The community still needs clean water. The road still needs to be rebuilt. The need did not go away just because the assumption was wrong.
The most unhelpful question in that moment is, “Whose fault is this?” The most helpful question is, “What is the next step?”
The same is true in our walk with Christ. When the season we thought would be easy turns out to be the hardest one yet, it is tempting to stop, sit down in the dirt, and wonder if God got the plans wrong.
He didn’t.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. — Proverbs 3:5–6
Our understanding was the assumption. His direction is the field verification. When we acknowledge Him in the middle of the mess, He shows us the next step that keeps the build going.
The Hope
So where is the hope when the materials fail, the site won’t cooperate, and our assumptions turn out to be wrong?
I believe it comes down to two things.
"The plans will change in the field. Discipline is the answer that keeps the build going, and destiny is the promise that it will be finished."
Discipline is the Answer
Here is something most people never think about: infrastructure lasts because of maintenance.
A water system doesn’t keep running because it was designed well once. It keeps running because operators show up every single day. They check the readings. They exercise the valves. They flush the hydrants. They fix the small leaks before they become main breaks. None of it is exciting, but all of it is essential.
Our spiritual disciplines are the daily maintenance of a Christ-centered life. Prayer. Reading the Word. Fasting. Gathering with the local church. Serving others. They are rarely glamorous, but when the site isn’t cooperating, the disciplines are what keep the system running.
When I am tapped out on emotional currency, it is not my best intentions that carry me. It is the habit of prayer that I built on the good days. It is the Word I hid in my heart before I needed it.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Hebrews 12:11
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Galatians 6:9
Discipline doesn’t prevent problems on the job site. It makes sure we are ready to respond when they come.
Destiny is the Promise
At the end of every project, there is a set of drawings called the as-builts.
As-built drawings record what was actually built.
At the close of construction, the original plans are updated to show what really went in the ground: every relocated pipe, every change in grade, every field adjustment. They almost never match the original design perfectly, and yet the system still serves the community for decades.
I love that picture. The as-builts are honest. They show every place the plan had to change. And they are still a record of a finished project that is doing exactly what it was meant to do.
Your life is the same way. Your as-built life will not look exactly like the plans you drew up. There will be reroutes and redesigns. There will be places where you hit rock and had to go around.
But the destination has not changed.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
God is the One who started this project, and He is the One who will finish it. Every field change is still working toward the purpose He designed: a healthy, Christ-centered life that ministers the Gospel to everyone you meet.
So I want to encourage someone today. Don’t quit when the pumps don’t perform. Don’t walk off the site when you hit rock. Slow down, ask the Lord for the next step, stay faithful in the daily disciplines, and trust the One who holds the plans.
The reality of a project is that it rarely goes the way we drew it. The reality of a life with Christ is that He always finishes what He starts.
Let’s build together.
Let's build together.