On the show's page on the ABC web site, you read this testimony.
Keep a box of tissues handy for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition because…
A) The tears of joy WILL flow.
B) You may need to plug your ears when Ty Pennington belts out his famed "Move that bus!!!!"
We don’t know about you, but it is what’s lurking behind that big bus which keeps us absolutely riveted from week-to-week: a house pimped out to the extreme. It's extremely uplifting, as the renovated home always belongs to a deserving family. It's extreme transformation. And it’s extremely community-oriented.
You’ll see dingy kitchens get completely tricked out, spa-inspired bathrooms built where icky ones once were, and olympic-sized swimming pools installed in what were once shabby overgrown yards. It's stuff we know you’d want at your own pad—and then some. And Ty and his crew do it from the ground up, adding five-star luxuries and the occasional theme park attraction.
From the moment he gives his “Good Morning” wakeup call, Ty is bent on bringing neighbors together—one environmentally-friendly brick at a time. It’s a race against time on a project that would normally span several months, involving a team of designers, contractors and hundreds of workers who all have just seven days to totally rebuild an entire house!
Before you start getting all jealous, the lucky homeowners always have a heartening back-story: Heroes, community leaders, and a plethora of inspirational families are truly the heart and soul of the show. There's that saying, "home is where the heart is," and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition puts the heart right where it belongs.
*Sniff*
Now excuse us while we have a good cry.
Have you thought lately about another EXTREME MAKEOVER? The one I am talking about is the makeover from the man who is slave to sin to the man who is free to serve God.
That makeover begins with a cosmic intervention by the God of all the Universe, the one and only Holy One. We have just finished the celebration of His work on the Cross by which we are given a new life.
We are given a life that was God's intention for us when he created us, but was lost when sin became our landlord. It took his death and burial in the grave to eradicate the sin in which had to live. But on the first day of the week all of heaven shouted, "Move that stone!" And we beheld our new dwelling and new life when the Risen Savior emerged from the Tomb. What that divine demolition team had completed its work, God's construction team created a new life for each and every one of us.
So what comes next? How do we open the door on our new life and take possession of the keys?
"... to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." John 1:12-14
And then we have to begin thinking like a new person. We are no longer living in the toxic, broken down house of sin. We are living in the life-affirming Temple of God. So we respond to this new life as Paul taught: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12.1-2
