The House That Ernie Built
Ernie Whitman built houses for a living. He would drive up to a piece of bare ground and would build a complete house with bathrooms, bedrooms, a kitchen, and a garage. Out of stacks of wood and liquid concrete Ernie would build houses for people to live in.
Many important things in a house can’t be seen after it has been built. No one can tell if the inside of the walls were built out of poor quality wood. No one can tell if the concrete was poured with too much sand in the mixture or not enough steel rebar in the foundation forms. No one can tell at first. But after a long time, everybody can tell. If the concrete is not strong enough, it will crack. If the framing is not square, the windows won’t open. If the roof is not made carefully, then rain or snow will leak into the house. The wood in the walls will start to rot and little insects called termites will eat them. Mold will grow and make people sick.
Ernie was a very careful builder. He inspected the lumber before it was used. Was it straight? Was any of the wood eaten by termites? All the bad wood was thrown out in the burn pile. Then he would crawl all over the house in his dusty overalls. Ernie checked everything. He measured things. He thumped on things. He grabbed things and shook them. He turned on water and watched it go down the drains. When he had finished crawling and testing, Ernie knew that the house was a good one.
At one house, Ernie found that the big trucks had brought a load of lumber that was not good enough. There were little cracks in the boards. Insects had eaten some of the wood. Ernie saw the lumber, he shook his head. “No,” he said, “it is not good enough.”
The man who brought the wood called his boss on his cell phone. “They won’t take the wood!” he said. The man’s boss was very upset. The wood cost a lot of money.
The lumberyard boss called Ernie’s boss. “What’s the matter with that builder of yours?” he said. “He won’t take the wood I sent him!”
Ernie’s boss left his air-conditioned office and came out to the building site in his business suit and fine car. “Ernie,” he said, “why are you rejecting the wood?”
Ernie showed his boss the cracks in the wood and the damage caused by the insects. “If we use this lumber, Boss,” he said, “then the house will only last about six years.”
His boss shook his head. “You are right. We will have to send the lumber back.”
After this, the boss trusted Ernie a lot. If Ernie said that something was bad, it was not used. It was sent back.
Ernie built many houses for his boss. Many families lived in the houses that Ernie built. They were worth what they cost.
After many years of crawling around houses, Ernie was getting old. His knees hurt, and he still felt tired when he got up in the morning. It was time for him to rest awhile before he went to meet God.
“Ernie,” his boss said, “before you retire, I have one more house that I want you to build for me.”
“Boss,” Ernie said, “I really don’t feel like building any more. Can’t you get someone else for the job?”
The boss put a hand on Ernie’s shoulder. “I want you to do it, Ernie,” he said. “This is the last house that you will ever build for me. Make it the finest house ever!”
Ernie nodded slowly. He would do it. But he didn’t want to. As he drove away in his pickup truck, he grumbled to himself. Why won’t he leave me alone? Haven’t I done enough work for him?
Ernie didn’t feel like doing a good job. He forgot that God was watching, too. This time, Ernie thought, I’m going to take every shortcut that I can. He drove up at the house site. It was the most beautiful place that Ernie had ever seen for a house. But Ernie did not feel beautiful inside.
He called the lumberyard. “I don’t need Number 1 Grade this time,” he said. “Just send Number 3 if it looks usable.”
The wood was pretty awful. The head carpenter looked at it. “Ernie!” he said, “You want to use this?”
Ernie looked mean. “If you’re not good enough to use this lumber, then I’ll find someone who can!”
The head carpenter didn’t say anything else. He shook his head as he built the inside of the walls with rotten lumber. No one would ever know, at first. Everybody trusted Ernie.
So Ernie cut corners everywhere. He did all the things that he had never done before. He accepted windows that were not quite made right. He accepted doors that were a little bent. He built more trouble in that house than he had ever seen in a house before, and he made it look good! Ernie figured that the boss would live in this house. The place was so beautiful, but his boss was in for a surprise! He would be sorry that he had made Ernie build him this house when Ernie was so tired and worn out!
Finally the house was finished. The boss drove up in his fine car. He pushed open the lovely front door, which had two bent hinge pins. They were carefully greased so that they wouldn’t squeak. The huge front windows opened easily. Ernie figured they would not stick until the autumn rains came. The boss flipped on the kitchen light switch. It was not rated for heavy usage, but it worked fine at this point.
Everything looked like quality. An Ernie-built house. It appeared to be his finest ever.
The boss looked out of the window at the beautiful view and smiled. “Ernie,” he said, “you have been a wonderful builder for me for many years. I wanted to do something special for you.” He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a shiny, new key. He said, “Ernie, this house is yours! This is for you to live in the rest of your life!”
“Let every man take heed how he buildeth.” (1 Corinthians 3:10)
