HELLO!

Two hymns speak to me when I feel I need a rock to lean upon:

In the Quiet Curve of Evening

In the mystery of my hungers, in the silence of my rooms, in the cloud of my unknowing, you are there.

In the empty cave of grieving, in the desert of my dreams, in the tunnel of my sorrow, you are there.

You are there, you are there, you are there.

Stay with Us Through the Night

Stay with us through the night. Stay with us through the pain.

Stay with us, blessed stranger till the morning breaks again.

Two Bible verses also speak to me when I need a rock to lean upon:

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Romans 8:28 We know all things work together for good…(we) who are called according to his purpose.

And these quotes from Holocaust survivor and author Victor Frankl:

“What we humans actually need is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.”

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how.’”

My friend Brian sent me his weekly photos today, where he sees God’s presence, hidden in plain sight. The one that caught my attention was the large rock/stone. I imagine these immovable gifts as symbols of what we are called to lean upon when life’s winds cause us to feel we have no foundation, no purpose, no sense of direction. I think we often, in these challenges, look for comfort and reassurance and even rescue. But for me, what helps me stay grounded is less comfort or “positive thinking” or rescue (as all life is fragile, mortal, finite) and more a sense of lasting purpose, of “why”, and mission. I recall the preacher in Bangor Maine, at a preaching seminar, reading from Genesis 1 and 2, and declaring with conviction, “And God made…a relationship”. That relationship forms a metaphor of life, Creation and even death/new life, as the “Cloud of Witnesses” follow us throughout our journey, and later, we become part of those clouds for others and their journeys. The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118:22 Peace, Kevin