Works In Progress

In the midst of the rainy season here in Washington, Carrie reminds us to build on The Rock…

A Cracked Tank

A few weeks ago I casually glanced into the waiting room at work and discovered a small wading pool. I jumped out of my chair and called for reinforcements. The 280 gallon saltwater fish tank had sprung a leak. Again.

Upon inspection I noted that the water level in the massive tank was three inches lower than it should have been and sinking steadily. Not good at all. I turned off valves and switches and still the water level dipped. Under the tank, a waterfall gushed. I knew there had to be a crack somewhere, a catastrophic crack. I just couldn’t see it.

I called the doctor in charge of our saltwater family. He, of course, was three hours away. His calm advice was to stick a tube in the draining tank and siphon some water into a trash can and then catch the fish.

So, I sucked and spit, sucked and spit, to no avail. By then the water was so low it couldn’t fight gravity. Meanwhile, a brave patient had meandered in and began filling garbage cans with saltwater. Anything to save the chromis and crabs who lived in the tank.

By the end of the ordeal, I was wading through the flooded room shoeless with my pant cuffs turned up, picking up the occasional crab or snail that I found. Dried bits of salt clung to my shirt. A few days later I learned what had caused the crash. After removing sand and hundreds of pounds of rock and coral I saw a four foot crack across the bottom of the tank; it had been hidden.

From the outside, the tank looked beautiful; the black lights shone, the fish were colorful and healthy, the water sparkled. The tank was the pride of the clinic, despite the occasional leak. But, unseen, something dangerous had formed. The foundation had weakened over time.  Hundreds of pounds of pressure had caused a crack to form. When it finally burst the life of the tank drained. Water overflowed and there was nothing but disaster.

This can happen in our lives, too. From the outside, everything looks good.  Our smile is in place. We’re always at church. We’re reading our Bible everyday. But, underneath, in our souls, is a crack. And we don’t realize it until the pressure in our lives causes something to burst. And then we drain.

Life’s pressures will never go away. God taught me that if I don’t cry out to Him on a daily basis, a crack will form in my own foundation.  It may start small, but with each passing day, it will widen, the day’s pressures overwhelming, damaging. God wants our pressure, our burdens.  He wants us to talk to Him about our issues, no matter how small they are.

Matthew 7: 24-25 says that we are to build our house on the rock because, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” However, the house built on the sand foundation, the weak foundation, “fell with a great crash.” (v. 26)

Is there a deadly crack in your foundation that will cause your life to drain, till nothing is left? Or have you built, and keep building, on the Rock?

A terrific little booster shot of encouragement and hope to start the new year …even if your name isn’t Esther.

What times are these?

Difficult times, a time of recession, times of change, the end times?

So much is being said at the moment about the times we are living in that I felt nudged to read once more that beautiful passage in Ecclesiastes 3 which begins

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

The God who lives outside time, (that concept is too big for my imagination) wants us to understand that everything has its time. What time is it for you at the moment? If you are living in good times personally and spiritually then be strengthened and prepared for the next season, because surely it will come. If you are going through a difficult time, then be encouraged because it will have its season and its close. God uses the times and seasons in our lives to test us, and train us.

One thing you can be sure of, whatever time you think it is, is that He has a plan for your life, that you are alive today because God wants it that way. (Read Psalm 139 to be reassured.) He knows where you are living, who is around you, and it is more than probable that he has put you right there.

What time are you living in? I would say, you are living in your time; the time for you.  Yes our seasons of life change, but Jesus’ words don’t. He still says to His followers, “Go in my name and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19) He still tells us to heal the sick, cast out demons and speak in other tongues. (Mark 16:16-18) He still invites us, as He did Peter, to get out of the boat. (Matthew 14:29).

Maybe you don’t agree, maybe you are thinking, “the Lord says ‘Be still and know that I am God’” and of course you are right, but that time too will pass. And even if we are being still, then we must still pray without ceasing, (1 Thess 5:17) for those who ill treat us, (Luke 6:28), for those in authority, (1 Tim 2:2) and many, many more.

Maybe your argument is that you are a nobody who can do nothing worthwhile. My friend, you are not a nobody, you are important in God’s kingdom. You are not an accident; God wants you here, now, today. You are not here because somewhere in your family line a contraceptive pill was forgotten or someone drank too much, or someone was abused. You are not here because way back in the generations something secret happened in a hidden place. No! You are here today because God has a plan for your life. Just look back through 2 or 3 generations, and see what lengths God went to in order to secure your birth.

In my own life here in Western Europe, my parents and grandparents survived two world wars. My paternal grandfather had a very serious accident in a stone quarry blast. This took his sight, but his life was preserved. By chance? No, by the will of God for a future generation. My maternal grandfather survived many accidents working in a coal mine. Was he just very lucky? No. God wanted him to give life to my mother, so that I and my children and my grandchildren would be born. I haven’t mentioned plane crashes, road accidents, and all the other dangers God protects us from in order to fulfill His purposes.

What times are these? They are your times, they are my times. It is time for us to be the people God is calling us to be. Let’s do it in His strength, in His name, and in His time.