To the Rock I Cry

In the years before Mary and I moved to Denver to join the Youth For Christ USA national team, I worked for a very large engineering and architectural firm. HNTB has locations all over the country with specific expertise in bridge design.

It was my job to oversee technology throughout the firm. As a result, I had a collection of highly skilled software engineers on my team. One in particular was an accomplished computer programmer with an earned doctorate in mathematics. Don was brilliant, reclusive and committed. His primary focus was on the development of software that simulated the potential stress applied to bridge design and construction. He was a genius on a mission. I trusted him to deliver solutions that would stand against the conditions that could and would face bridges built in Kansas as well as California. Tornados and/or earthquakes.

Stress test. Tornados and earthquakes. Sounds familiar. A virus unleashed has rocked the globe. It is stress testing an international economy and every household.

Governments scramble. The medical community pursues solutions. Families hunker down. Institutions close.

What seemed durable and firm, now seems fragile and volatile.

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT)

Plans.

Yes, plans that seemed locked in a month ago. My plans. My retirement accounts. My trips and events and travel and agenda… my plans. Now cracked. Now rocked. Now broken.

My plans, fractured with the stress test of a global pandemic and the collateral fallout. My plans. Built for my purposes. My design, for my comfort, convenience and control.

Plans.

God’s plans. For good. For a future. With hope.

Plans that survive in tornados and earthquakes. Plans that bring peace in the chaos.

Stress tested faith. God as our advocate, our friend, our companion, our hope. Faith on a rock. Faith in defiance of the sand. Faith that offers hope to a helpless and hopeless world. Faith that stands.

Together. In solidarity. Against the tsunami of fear. Wise. But without panic. Courageous. But without pride.

Stress tested. God, our rock and our salvation.

Nothing else will stand. Nothing.

Indeed, faith not fear. Let’s show the world together. In the name of Christ, our King, our Savior, our solid and unchanging rock.

And to the Rock I confess my self-reliance. To the Rock I cling. To the Rock I cry… “Lord have mercy.”