31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free Writes

Days 24/25/26: Concrete, Know, Dream

Taking this picture remains as real to me now as it did then. It was the very moment I knew that the dream of our new home was really coming true. That completed concrete block foundation represented so many things to me: plans accomplished, hopes realized, and a promise for our future.

There was a wait time of course, before the house could be placed on the understructure. The builders explained that the cement had to dry, harden, and season for maximum stability. Though I was anxious for it to be placed upon it, I knew having a solid foundation was vital for a house to stand. 

I’ve been thinking about foundations a lot lately, not concrete ones but spiritual ones. My small, rural, country church is struggling.  The pandemic battered our finances and having few members we are challenged to recover. Hard discussions have been had. Words we never thought would be, have had to be said. Winds of change are buffeting our church family and we’re desperately trying to withstand it all. 

Grief, frustration, fear, shock, and so many emotions assail us as we hang on the best we can through this storm. As often happens to me, a song, or more accurately a “God-wink,” has come at just the right time and I’m clinging to the lyrics:

“If the Lord builds the house
Nobody can tear it down
When it’s build on His name
There’s nothing gonna shake this ground
If the Lord builds the house
Nobody can tear it down.

The bricks may be weathered
Through storm and through fire
But what God holds together
It stands firm every time.”
If the Lord Builds the House by Hope Darst

I’ve been singing these words over and over as a way to remind myself that God has built His house, the church and while in the future ours may not look like what we’ve always known, it will “stand firm” because God’s the One holding it. 

“Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” Ephesians 2:20-21 (NLT)

As Christians we know we’re going to face many storms that threaten to threaten our very foundations, individually and as a church. The truth is, that what we’ve tried to build on our own may be destroyed; but what a comfort to know that what’s built on the solid foundation of Christ will stand firm every time. His plans for us will be accomplished. Our hopes in Him will be realized. And His promise for our future? Unshakeable!

“Cause my life is anchored
On this solid truth
That whatever God’s building
No, it can’t be moved.”

https://youtu.be/22j4e3n6t3g