How To Get To The Bottom of Our Foundations

As I looked up the word etymology for “foundation” it took me no less than 6 clicks to get to the bottom of the word foundation.

I thought that was funny.

But then my Spirit attuned ear remembered hearing the word “foundation” in the Bible.

And I wondered if God used the word “foundation” the way we use it today… meaning “the bottom most base of something to stand, or build on.”

Lo and behold, the ancient Hebrew and Greek, according to Strong’s Concordance, that the Bible were originally written in also used the word “foundation” the same way we use it today, meaning “the bottom most base of something to stand, or build on.”

And that’s how God uses it also when He addresses Israel to build something, or when he has to threaten to destroy something, He says, paraphrasing many verses here… “I will wipe your foundations clean, even the foundations of the mountains will be shaken.”

And Jesus says, “build on the rock, not sand.”

It’s a very clear picture that I don’t think we can argue about what it means.

But I’ll try.

Nah just jokin’.

My question was to myself, “What are your personal foundations?”

Then I asked myself, “I wonder what other people believe that their personal foundations are, and how, when, and where, were those foundations dug out and laid down?”

I have struggled with this question.

Growing up we didn’t have family traditional traditions that I could say that I can look to that would qualify to make up a “personal foundation” for myself.

The closest one I would offer up would be deer hunting.

But that one comes with a caveat.

I looked forward to deer hunting because that was the only time of year that my dad spent anytime with me. It was a tradition. But it was a shaky foundation… because it was never 100% for sure that I would be going.

So… I asked myself the question again, but with a little twist, “Hey Dave, can you describe what your foundations are?”

Answer: Nope, not really.

Thinking further on it I asked myself specifically, “Well, how do you make your daily decisions then?”

That one got me.

It has taken me awhile to be able to do the personal work on myself, so that I can be honest with myself, so that I can work on a question like this.

As I mulled over “how I make my daily decisions” I discovered that I wasn’t, not really, a proactive man, my approach was such… life happens and I react accordingly, “being tossed by the wind and waves” to paraphrase the Bible again.

Coming out of high school, within a few months of each other, I went from balling my eyes out spilling my drunken guts to a friend about how I had no idea what to do… to finally getting hired at a factory (one of 3 hiring at the time, not like today) and him saying to me, “Hey I don’t want to bring up sh#*t but I told ya everything would work out.”

“Yaay! I got a job!!”

But I was only reacting, filling out applications, hoping and praying for a job… any job!

Mans gotta eat.

Once I got the first job, I realized “the chase” was on.

Chasing that next dollar. Not so much career promotions, just, “what job can I get next that pays that next dollar?”

Trying to, at least, surf the wind and waves, in an attempt at self direction.

But having no foundation under me, I was just rock hoppin’. “Ooh that looks good, Ooh that looks good.”

Or my favorite, “No one else wants to take on these responsibilities, we think you’d do well at it.”

I was a sucker for that one.

I did get one step away from a corner office once, through hard work, but then the culture changed and you needed a Masters, regardless of how hard you worked, in order to qualify for that corner office.

“Dems tha breaks kid.”

So… basically my whole life I had nothing under me that was solid that I could be making decisions with, “there but for the grace of God go I”.

Fast forward a couple years, and with the birth of my oldest son, I would be placed onto, basically, a second childhood of my own, and in the words of Jesus, about John the baptist being Elijah, “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.”

The point being, “if you are willing to accept it.”

It didn’t dawn on me while it was happening. It dawned on me after I had left my “second nest.”

When I realized it was time to go, it was a very comfortable decision to make, and what was I using as a foundation to now make this decision to move forward?

My relationship with my Father in heaven.

My earthly dad hadn’t left me with a foundation to work off of, or to build further upon.

So my heavenly Father provided me another 20 plus years, to grow up, providing a “2nd childhood” for me that could be looked at as “story book”, with good work; horses; hunting and fishing; learning what real responsibility was; a myriad of crazy experiences… everything a “young boy” could ask for growing up… and has placed under me a very solid, and sure foundation!

1 Corinthians 3:11

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 2:20

“… built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

And now as I move forward in life I have something… and more importantly… someone… who I can go to and trust, to provide me sure footing moving forward.

I find myself, daily, bouncing my thoughts and decisions, off of Gods Word, which is “wisdom to some, and foolishness to others”, and then when I struggle, I can still just ask Him directly to show me something that I need to know.

So now, I think I can make real plans, real goals, real decisions, BEFORE life throws those curve balls at me, and now instead of having my knees buckle, I can recognize it and let it go, knowing that even life can’t get every curve ball over for a strike every time… even Nolan Ryan couldn’t do that. (Gonna have a bad day if he did though, just ask George Brett)

The pictures I used today come from the foundation of my house, that experienced water and chipmunk damage.

It took quite a bit of work to get to the bottom of the foundation to check it out.

I discovered the foundation to be solid, as Jesus is. Took awhile to get down to Jesus as well.

But my homes foundation is set into a sandy hill, that can be good, and that can be bad.

I had quite the project of re-shaping the yard in order to divert the water, which when it rains, all piles up against the house right there, out away into a landscaped ditch, which is doubling as my granddaughters hunting area for frogs, birds, and the occasional tiger (the stuffed toy kind)!

When they built the garage and driveway the water issue really needed to be addressed, and maybe at one time it was, but over time the water did what water is gonna do. Plus… if it had been taken care of then, I wouldn’t be able to write about it now and have it mean so much to me.

The foundation of my house, one day, will be gone, one day… me as a foundation for my grand daughter will be gone, one day some one else will own my house, will look at my ditch, which may be full of leaves and dirt, and say, “what an idiot.”

But… this I now know to be true.

NIV Matthew 24:35 Biblegateway.com

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Which is very comforting indeed.

So… do you know your own foundation?

The Emerging Man writing to ENCOURAGE, EQUIP & ENGAGE!

And offering up “Positivity with Work Gloves!”