The Solid Rock

I must admit I’m weary of moving about. As I sit in my room in London my back and legs ache from a long day walking across the city. But I also ache from the increasing nomadism that has defined my life since graduating from college. My spirit, my heart, my mind, my body--all are in need of stability, of stillness. And yet, amidst the instability, clarity is found.

Arriving to the church ten minutes after the service started, I was expecting to find a seat close to the door near the back. I walked into a packed house and indicated to the usher that I was a party of one. He walked me down to the last available seat in the front row, right on the center aisle. The rest of my group was somewhere behind me, but for all intents and purposes it was just me, a foreigner to both this country and this church, front and center in a sea of strangers. And I felt right at home.

The sermon began. 1 Kings 17:1-6, the story of Elijah following God’s call to the Kerith Valley during drought. The priest had a classic four point sermon:
1) Acknowledge whom you serve, it brings clarity of faith.
2) Act upon your beliefs, it gives integrity of character.
3) Accept God’s provision, it grants humility of spirit.
4) Acquire the habit of stillness, it brings the ability to be equipped.

I have no consistent community. I have no consistent job. I have no consistent home. There isn’t much in my life that has clarity and stillness, but I realized there in the company of people I’d never met, it was on Christ the solid rock I stood. I know who I serve and it brings clarity to my life. I try to live out my faith and it brings cohesion to who I am. I see God’s provision in the roof that always appears overhead, the meal that always appears on the table. And in the midst of a bustling metropolis 4830 miles away from home, I found the still soft voice reassuring me that despite the constant moving about, I am firmly planted.