Pastor Ken
A few years ago, I visited several countries around the Mediterranean Sea, including Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, etc.
After returning home, some friends asked, “What did you see while traveling?” I joked, “A lot of rocks!”
Indeed. Many historical sites, around for hundreds or thousands of years, turn into a pile of stones called “ruins.” To be precise, all left for tourists to see are the foundations of ancient buildings.
In the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea, ancient buildings were often built using local materials such as stones. The rocks used for the foundation were usually enormous, buried deep in the soil, and difficult to move without tools. The stones for the above-the-ground structure were relatively smaller and fell easily during earthquakes or wars. If local people rebuilt their houses, they might steal those stones already chiseled squarely. After many years, the only remaining structure in the ruins is the foundation of the buildings.
Prior to becoming a pastor, I was a foundation engineer. I remember a class in college about the properties of clay. The textbook used the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy as an example to illustrate that if the clay for the foundation is not properly treated, the compression of the material will be uneven. Over time, the structure will have problems. Nowadays, with the advancement of engineering design, buildings with more than 2,000 feet and more than 100 floors can be built easily. The foundations of many high-rise buildings sit right on the bedrock deep into the ground.
When I was young, like many friends, I had the opportunity to learn some arts and crafts. Unfortunately, I gave up most of them except the piano. As a teenager, when I was about to leave for the United States, my piano teacher said in my last class, “No matter where you are, I hope you still do your finger exercise to maintain your skill.” In the beginning, I didn’t have a piano, but whenever I had a chance, I did basic exercises such as scales, chromatic scales, and arpeggios. Years later, I finally had my own piano. My persistence to practice basic skills enables me to continue to play the piano.
The same is true for our faith. The apostle Paul said that the foundation of Christianity is Jesus. That means knowing the words and life of Jesus through studying the Bible and maintaining personal interaction with Jesus through prayers. Without reading the Bible, praying, and meditating every day, we lack the much-needed foundation. Even if we listen to the sermons of famous preachers, read theology books, or do good deeds, it won’t help much. If the foundation isn’t solid, when temptation or suffering comes, we don’t know what to do, and our superficial faith will collapse.
Whether it’s the foundation of a skill or faith, all take time to build. We must work on building it until our body reacts without thinking. Then we can truly benefit from it. As long as the foundation is still intact, even though the building needs to be torn down, we can always rebuild.
