Finding Our Foundation

Matthew 7:25 – And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. (KJV)

Isaiah 33:6 – And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure. (KJV)

For eleven years of my life, we lived on a Canadian air base, which previously had been inhabited by air force personnel. However, after the Second World War, our parents, employees of the federal government's Department of Transport, moved into the airport housing, a self-contained community of some fifty homes, a skating rink, curling rink, shooting gallery, playground, baseball diamond, dairy, and a little store.

A huge farm skirted the airport boundaries on two sides, and the tarmac runway on a third. Our tree forts were built in the bushes that nestled against the large community garden on the fourth side. This made for good "garden raiding" while on our way to our forts.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the need for the Department of Transport's services decreased. As people found new jobs and new homes, the houses and buildings were sold and moved off the airport. Although the air control tower, administration building, and hangers remained operational (and were eventually rebuilt) for commercial and private flights, the once-thriving community was simply surrendered to sod.

After a year and a half of planning, a first-ever homecoming came to fruition last summer. Markers were staked throughout the grass to show where our beloved buildings had once stood. My brothers and I walked to a little grassy knoll that had once held our home, and there, where the earth had worn away, was a hole with rocks and some of the foundation, which had formed our front steps.

My first Sunday School teacher had also made the trek to the homecoming, and it all seemed such a parallel to our spiritual lives. At some time in our lives, we may "move away" from some forms of spirituality, such as church, prayer, or Bible reading. We may make changes throughout our lives; we may challenge the beliefs we were taught; we may allow other things to take over or replace what once held or "housed" the spiritual portion of our life.

However, if the basic foundations of faith were laid, they will always be there, and we can be assured that, when we find that we are in need, when we are ready to return, ready for a "spiritual homecoming", and call, God will still be there.

Prayer: We give thanks, O Lord, for those who laid our spiritual foundations: our parents, grandparents, godparents, Sunday School teachers, missionaries, ministers, pastors, and priests. Bear with us, we pray, in those times when we set you aside. Forgive our arrogance when we fail to recognize that you are the source of all that we are, all that we have, all that we are so graciously given. In your name we pray. Amen.