Solid Ground ~ Part 1 of 3

Photo by Marion Tripp

When I was a child, my family traveled crowded Jersey highways to the shore. I tip-toed across the beach, hoping to avoid shells and what-nots from hurting my tender soles. Then I reached the ocean's damp edge and took baby steps toward the Atlantic.

Others about me charged in, splashing cold salt water on this chicken. I jumped back and then inched forward until I stood waist-high in water ~ at which point a wave would undoubtedly knocked me down. Initiation completed.

The relationship between me and the ocean was a daunting one. I entered this wet world with fear, recalling a couple times when I'd gone too deep for my non-swimming body, only to fight for air until waves carried me ashore.

Most of my beach time I parked securely not too distant from the tide line, shoveling damp sand to form moats about molded walls and towers. My imagination soared, like the seagulls overhead!

As the hours passed and sun burned, the tide made its way to my real estate and within minutes washed it away. I knew it would. I hated to see it go. So it was, building on sand. And, yes, it always reminded me of the Sunday school song about the foolish man building upon sand and the wise man establishing his house on the rock.

Until I reached the know-it-all teen years, I thought this song was about nothing more than a stupid man vs. a much smarter one. Of course the third verse held a big clue ~ So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ. But I didn't realize this went beyond "Lord Jesus, come into my life."

Then I went to Christian college and heard the word doctrine for the first time. I'd been brought up in a Christian home and church, where parents and teachers taught us Bible stories and verses, missions, and importance of prayer. Yet somehow this single-minded girl didn't grasp the whole "doctrine thing."

Much later in life I realized how all the pieces fit together and that my Christian life isn't just about salvation. These doctrines were the foundation stones God laid so my life gripped the Solid Rock, Jesus, when waves of trouble struck me.

I now see the importance of firm grounding in every aspect of life. Without these, we cannot stand as a people or a nation...