My Month Of Re-Engineering My Home

My Month of Re-engineering My Home

Amos Dada PhD; P.Eng

Welcome to this month, my month of re-engineering my home.

What is engineering? Engineering (from Latin ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and ingeniare, meaning "to contrive, devise") is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to invent, design, build, maintain, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes.(wikipedia) Engineering is the action of working artfully to bring something about. Engineering means solving problems. In today’s world, engineers are mainly concerned with maintaining and improving living standards and quality of life in a society. To ‘engineer’ literally means to “make things happen”. Engineering is about the design and production of useful products and services.

So what is re-engineering? It means systematic starting over and reinventing the way a firm, or a business process, gets its work done. Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, service, and speed.

What is a home? A home is a dwelling-place used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for an individual, family, household or several families in a tribe. It is often a house, apartment, or other building, or alternatively a mobile home, houseboat, yurt or any other portable shelter. A home could also be an institution for people needing professional care or supervision. (e.g. senior's home or motherless home).

Notice that the topic is not re-engineering your marriage but home. Marriage is a subset of the home. Home includes persons and properties, the nuclear family and the extended family. Home is all encompassing. This month I want you to re-engineer your home. Find ways to improve your relationship with someone in your home. Make things happen. Re-design your thinking process. Are you a parent? Think of ways to make your relationship with your children better. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4. Are you a child, learn from the prodigal son, who re-engineered his life and returned home to fresh meals, new wardrobe and a lavish party. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ Lk 15:17-18. Re-engineering is about coming to your senses.Are you a husband and all you have seen in your wife is negative things, salty meal, growing tummy (having had children bearing your name) nagging and complaints, re-engineer your mind, see her beauty, see the effort she puts in to make your meal, multi-tasking to get the home front stable so that you can focus in the office. In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.1Pet 3;7Are you a wife, this is the month to soft pedal to do a rethink, yes you have put so much into the marriage ‘but one thing thou lackest’ (Lk 18:22) 'that is making the marriage to fall apart'? Find it out. That is re-engineering your home. Do you constantly provoke my husband; are you submissive or over demanding and overbearing? Or have you gone with the spirit of feminism unknown to yourself? This is the month to re-engineer. This month re-engineer your speech process, giving process, loving process, praying process, relational process and make your home a better place.

Some people say to me Pastor Dada you have stopped practicing engineering. My reply is usually that I may not be practicing Chemical Engineering but I am still practicing engineering albeit Jesus engineering. From the definition above it is very clear we are all ‘engineers’. We use some principles and knowledge to produce better products. Whatever skills you want to use this month, scriptural, social, practical and financial, go ahead and use them. Just come up with a better living environment in your marriage, in your home.

Whenever I read Matthew Chapter Five I see Jesus re-engineering the old laws, not just elucidating but improving on them so that you and I can have better social relations within the home and the society. Read this: You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[r] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![s] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, [t] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48.