My apologies for yesterday's absence. I was overnighting in Walterboro, South Carolina on my way to see my nephews in Florida. Today's message is much later than my normal time and, for those who are used to it being there when you awake in the morning, I apologize for that as well. I felt that a visit with my nephews would be a good thing. Their mother, my only sibling, died this past August 24 of cancer. They felt like they had lost their foundation.
En route to see my nephews I came my usual route down I-75 out of Kentucky to Knoxville, Tennessee and then East from Knoxville toward Asheville, North Carolina on I-40. The trip through North Carolina's mountains was most interesting when I came upon signs warning about rock slides up ahead and possible delays as a result of traffic going down to one lane. What I was not prepared for was where the rock slides were.
Years ago the mountains literally gave way and tons of rocks came crashing down on I-40 in North Carolina. I was looking for rock slide blocking the right lane of the interstate. The danger was not from above but from below. The rock slides were from the supporting cliffs underneath the roadway. Great sections of I-40 were buckled from the loss of precious foundation rock. The right lane was sagging in places which made driving on those areas dangerous, hence the reduction to one lane.
When the road falls away driving becomes dangerous; a definite risk. It is difficult to continue on a road that has no foundation. Fear of being swept into the abyss along with tons of rock can reduce us to a stand still on a trip. Or in our lives. We build our lives on the foundation of those who went before us in life. Their words, actions, attitudes and principles form the substance upon which we walk our personal walk of life. The unexpected or untimely loss of a parent crystalizes that truth bringing it into sharp focus for us.
"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11 The swift death of my sister left her family at a loss until they began to realize that she had given them the foundation they needed. She had devoted them to God and had left them a legacy of service in Him for them to follow. Their road is not falling away. It is all the more solid in Christ Jesus.