I have very sympathetic feelings for this person who is undergoing a time of trial in their life.  Who among us has not gone through some serious changes that challenge some of our most precious beliefs and relationships? 

In a time of life when our foundations are being shaken, it is hard to remember that something underlies even our most precious foundation.  Does that statement even make sense?  I hope that you can see that I am struggling here.  What I mean is that God underlies all of it.  All of the things that we reach to for permanence and comfort and reassurance and stability.

Throughout our lives, whether you realize it yourself or not, we have found some things that we can count on for stability in life.  Most of those times the things that become our foundation and provide us permanence and security are solid, temporal and temporary things of this world: family, friends, spouse, children, money, mental acuity, physical strength, the list is very long.  But, if you live long enough, you will wind up losing every bit of it.  These things are all good.  They are some of the best blessings from God. And, for most all of us, they make up what Jesus refers to as:  (Matt 8:20-22)  Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”  NIV

That portion of the Gospel always struck me as extraordinarily unfeeling and uncaring.  It seems the most uncharacteristic saying that Jesus ever uttered.  But recent events in my own life have caused me to re-think that.  Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, and people of the earth have security blankets.  We all do.  But in this passage Jesus reminds us that there is a foundation underneath our foundation.  In following Jesus, we will discover the foundation that underlies everything of this earth.  By following Him, Jesus will lead us to “The Father” who is the basis of every good thing that this life offers.  He is the foundation beneath our foundation.  He holds up the ground beneath our feet.  He is the solid rock that our Rock rests upon.

The message that I want this questioner to hear is that “all that is precious to you came from one source, and that source is yours forever, because you don’t have him.  He has you.”  One day, you will lose everything of this life.  Everything great and everything tragic will go away.  Everything that has tormented you and everything that has supported you will be whisked away like a whisp of fog.  And then you will stand on that place that I call “our true Native land”.  You will stand, on that day, on the Rock of Ages  –  home at last.