Foundation

There is an old song from my Sunday school days which has bubbled up to the surface of my memory at regular intervals this summer. Tell me if you know it:

1. The wise man built his house upon the Rock,

The wise man built his house upon the Rock, The wise man built his house upon the Rock, And the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, But the house on the Rock stood firm.

2. The foolish man built his house upon the sand, The foolish man built his house upon the sand, The foolish man built his house upon the sand, And the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, And the house on the sand fell flat.

3. So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, And the blessings will come down. The blessings come down as your prayers go up, The blessings come down as your prayers go up, The blessings come down as your prayers go up, So build your life on the Lord.

This summer at IOLBC our theme has been “Foundation.” Each day we have been looking at what makes up our foundation of faith. God’s Majesty. Relationship with God. God’s Compassion for us. God’s Joy in us. God himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Foundations, as any builder can tell you, are important. In many ways, they will determine the life span of the structure. Lay a poor foundation and the building will sink and sage over time. Take the time to lay down a solid foundation and you will always have that foundation to return to and start again.

The house I grew up in actually has two foundations. The original part of the house sits on a rock and cement foundation. It still stands but the cement between the rocks is slowly degrading and crumbling away. As a child, each year when we would do a thorough cleaning of the basement, there was always a pile of fine cement dust to be swept up along those walls. In the newer part of the home which was added decades later along with electricity and indoor plumbing, the foundation is some sort of block wall. The cement which holds it together is improved and has not begun to erode like the other section.

My dad, having grown up in that house, would love to have seen one of us kids be the next generation to raise a family there. However, none of us seriously considered that possibility because we knew, from an early age, that it is only a matter of time before the issues with the foundation would need to be addressed. And the only way to do that well, is to lift up the entire house, dig out the old foundations, and build an entirely new one from scratch. That’s a lot of work for an old farmhouse in rural southwest Minnesota.

The foundation of my childhood home is actually a good visual for what the foundations of faith look like for many of us. We build the first part in our childhood, do the best we know how to do with the resources available to us, and start building the houses of our lives on top. And it’s a great start. It serves us well in our formative years. As we grow and are exposed to a broader view of the world, we add on to that foundation so that we can support our ever widening perspectives and lengthening list of life experiences.

Eventually, we realize that maybe we didn’t get everything about God and faith and the Bible right by the time we were 18 years old and we start to notice that there are cracks in that foundation built in our childhood. It’s been good, but it isn’t perfect. For some, that realization comes when the house they have built comes crashing down around them. For others, that realization comes when they realize the house they built is simply too small and limiting. For others still, it comes in seeing and examining the foundations of those who have gone before them.

The prospect of foundation repairs, both for actual home owners and in our faith, can be a daunting challenge to face. But if you value the house sitting on that foundation, the life built on that foundation, they are worth the time and effort. That’s what this summer was about. Helping youth to build the best foundation of faith possible and challenging our adult campers to really look at their foundations and be sure they are as strong as possible.

In the coming weeks, we will be walking through our summer theme days. If you were at camp with us, we hope it will be a good reminder of what God was teaching you while at camp this summer. If you were not able to join us, then we hope you’ll be challenged to be consider what makes up the foundation of your faith.