A few weeks ago I learned that I shouldn’t worship concrete. Now perhaps you’re thinking, “Wait, aren’t you a pastor? You should have known that already, right?” Well, yes, of course I should have.

One Saturday morning, not too long ago, the concrete truck pulled up to our home to pour our new sidewalk. We previously had some luxurious gravel (sarcasm alert), but decided to downgrade to a simple concrete sidewalk. The guys got right to work on the new sidewalk. Shortly thereafter, we as a family departed for a local fall festival.

After a couple of hours of fun, we arrived home in the early afternoon, excited to see the new sidewalk, but as we were pulling into the driveway we noticed that it wasn’t perfectly smooth as the contractor had promised. Instead, we saw some large footprints in the wet concrete. I was aghast and my wife and kids clearly and quickly picked up on it. I immediately went into detective mode trying to figure out how “the crime” had been committed. I felt wronged, as though something had been unlawfully taken from me, and I wanted it restored and justice done.

Apparently someone was canvassing our neighborhood providing us and others with information and materials on the upcoming elections. I am in no way opposed to this practice, except of course when it involves stepping on wet concrete, particularly my wet concrete. It wasn’t until early Sunday morning, when I was preparing to preach, that I came to the realization I shouldn’t worship concrete. I had responded to the unfortunate situation incredibly poorly, and what’s worse is that my kids began express their disappointment as well.

For several days following the incident, nearly every time we went out to get in the car, I heard my son solemnly say something like, “I am very sad about the sidewalk, Dad.” I appreciated his sympathy, it was very sweet, but I know that it came as a result of my sinful reaction. I’m sure he would have had a very different reaction if I had a very different reaction.

The sidewalk can be fixed, and it eventually was fixed. The good news is that my heart is slowly being fixed too. There are more things in this life I need to discover that I shouldn’t worship, and though these are often rude awakenings, I can see the Lord’s work in them. Time and time again God takes my worship off of created things and redirects it to himself, the Creator. That is exactly how it should be, and though it may be momentarily painful, I pray that it will increasingly be so.