In mid-October of this year, 2025, my oldest grandchild, Collin, told me what he wanted for Christmas. I was delighted to have direct directions. He wanted a tabletop drawing board that would tilt the drawing surface at various angles. Collin is pursuing a degree in commercial art, so I know he is serious about developing his skills. He found one at Hobby Lobby for just under forty dollars. I went to the closest store to examine it. I walked out of the store without the drawing board. The price wasn’t the problem, but the quality was. I could build a better one! Well, maybe not “better for” — after all, it’s a flat tilting surface to hold a piece of paper. I could, however, provide him with a custom-made piece of furniture that would make him proud.
As I neared the final stage of construction, I decided that I needed to make changes to what had been completed. I have learned two truths so far:
First, because I have never designed or built one, I don’t exactly know what I am doing. In my earlier years, I would not start a project until I was satisfied with the whole design. I am very hesitant to begin something I cannot complete. There are not many projects I have started and not completed.
Because a mechanism was needed to stabilize the board at different angles, I had only the slightest idea of what would be required. The movable parts are hard to visualize and draw. The parts need to move within a limited space. In the past, the lack of knowledge would have kept me from beginning.
Nowadays, I go ahead and launch into the build, believing I will be able to figure it out, only to reach another “I have no idea how to do this” stage. Well, I’m at that stage, and, as anticipated, an idea has been born out of my perplexity. I don’t know exactly how I will solve the problem, but I now have a better understanding of it, which allows me to take the next step. I may not have that next follow-up step, but I have confidence that taking this “next step” will reveal the next “next step.”
I think the Bible calls that “not walking by sight but walking by faith.”
On to the second truth:
My design has a base that sits flat on the table. The problem is that what I built does not sit flat on the table; it wobbles. Additionally, when I clamped the four sides together during the gluing, the clamps pushed the corners out of square. Not from 90 degrees to each other; they are skewed vertically to the table. There is something in me that is highly annoyed by tables and chairs that wobble.
As a result, the drawing board would be out of alignment with whatever it was sitting on. And each interior tilting piece would have to be customized to fit snugly. Once a single piece is out of square, every other piece must be adjusted to the one that is wrong. Something had to be done.
On most of my builds, I just find a way to incorporate mistakes into the design’s “uniqueness.” I find ways to disguise my errors. It was critical decision time: live with the wobble or disassemble and re-glue. I decided Saturday night to just live with it. I was confident that I could find an easy way to de-wobble the base. Then, during worship this morning, I decided to cut it apart and do it again. Collin might not have a problem with the wobble, but I just can’t live with the idea.
I have been a Christian for over fifty years, and you would be right in assuming that I would have mastered this truth before now, but I haven’t. Here is the truth: I’m still learning how to deal with my kingdom in the Kingdom wobbles
God is not trying to make my old, wobbly way of thinking stable; He is taking my old way of thinking apart and putting it back together. God does not adjust His Creation to fit my ideologies. I may be willing to take the easy route and hide the wobble as my “unique Fred-quirks,” but He is not!
I would be satisfied with a less wobbly “better” Fred. He insists on having an accurate and fully functional “image” of Himself. (Genesis 1)
Now that I think about it, and particularly about the God/man Jesus, I do too. I want to be like Jesus when I grow up.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
[i.e., take the wobble out of your walk.] (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV) [Fred’s]
You might also read Ephesians 4:22-24. Use the Amplified Bible Version.
Photo – That’s my drawing board frame that will hold the actual board. Notice the space under the far corner?
Baldwin Heirlooms 