Dump truck processional
The parade of dump trucks continues…
The scene on the site of our new high school building has been somewhat constant for weeks. First, trucks carried off hundreds of loads of samsula muck and now are importing load after load of fill. The process is an essential part of providing a solid foundation for the building to come. We witnessed the same set of events during the construction of the Elementary/Middle School building at LCS.
The foundation, though invisible after the building is completed, is indispensable for long-term stability. Any foundation built upon the unstable layer of muck would ultimately fail.
So, the process of removal of the muck, the organic decomposing soils originally characterizing the site, is essential for successful construction. Importing the right soils from outside is critical.
Intervention from outside
There are some spiritual parallels to be drawn from this process. We are all born with original sin, and we affirm that status by our own acts of sin. The fall (Genesis 3) has left us broken and distorted by sin and in need of redemption and re-birth. Our natural state of “spiritual muck” will never produce the solution for our need. To look within us for answers to this state is as pointless as thinking the muck will improve over time and become a suitable foundation.
Just as the building site requires new soils, we need intervention from outside ourselves to have hope. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23)
The storm reveals all
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke the parable of two builders. The wise man was one who heard the words Jesus and obeyed. He was described as one who built on the Rock. The foolish man heard but rejected the message. He was said to have built on the sand. The two houses probably looked the same until the storm came. One stood, the other collapsed.
The apostle Paul wrote, “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 3:11)
We all want our own lives and the lives of our children to stand up under the storms of life. That will require a firm foundation built on the Truth of the Word of God.
When to prepare
The time to build the foundation is before the storm hits. That’s why Education in the Light of God’s Word is so critical for young people today. The culture continues to tell them to look within to find the answers to life. Left to ourselves, we tend to “be wise in our own eyes” (Proverbs 3:7) and build on the muck. We need intervention from outside ourselves to have a firm foundation both for salvation and for direction as to how to live.
As you watch the parade of dump trucks continue for several more days, be reminded of the reality that we will all build our lives on some kind of foundation. Let’s go with the Rock and not the muck!
