CONCRETE AND FAITH
In all the travels of my life and the many, many jobs I’ve had from Florida to Oregon and many other places, most of them involved working with concrete.
I’ve worked pouring concrete for different kinds of foundations, I’ve poured concrete walls and walkways, I’ve poured concrete around fence post for stronger fences, I worked building concrete highways and bridges, and I’ve felt the ache and pain of what concrete does to the feet and legs from sweeping concrete floors as a janitor and working as a cashier in a big box store, I’ve even worked breaking up concrete with a sledgehammer and a jackhammer, concrete is wonderful but it can also be very rough.
As rough, and as hard as working with concrete can be, you can grow fond of it, it has its own smell, its own texture and taste, and its own kind of spirit and of course, you must learn that it is always the boss, it will not work with you, you must work with it and respect it or you will pay a very distasteful price.
Concrete, with its power and versatility, is amazing in how it has allowed our culture to accomplish grand and everyday ideas and dreams for a whole nation and individuals like you and me. When I think on it now Concrete reminds me a lot of building a foundation for life, anyone’s life…………. So much of my life has rested on concrete, hard labor and a job well done. It was satisfying and fed me and my loved ones; however, as great as concrete is only a few days after you’ve finished your job with it, it begins a very slow but steady disintegration; the length of its useful life is determined by how well the workmen do their work.
Of course, concrete and all the material things in life that amaze us pale in comparison to the real foundation of life which is faith in God, (remember faith the size of a mustard seed moves mountains) and my faith rests on the foundation of God’s truth, love, and joy which He gives me bountifully if and when I’ll ask for it and accept it………….Concrete, and our whole material world are like a puff of smoke or a wisp of fog in a breeze or the unfolding, dissolving soft clouds in a summer sky, temporary and fleeting, compared to the infinite, eternal foundation of God’s truth, love, and joy.
Jack