I got word a while back that my elderly mother had experienced a fall while tending her flowers in the yard.  Thankfully she escaped with no broken bones, but it brought her a lot of pain and limitation in her movement.  We were able to hear from her by telephone, but we were not satisfied until we laid our eyes on her in person.  So Gale and I made the trek north for a visit.

We had a safe trip and were delighted to find her recovering well; she and my daddy even went to a restaurant for supper with us one night.  It was a wonderful visit, but not everything went my way. 

Granite is the economic mainstay in the town that I am from and there is no shortage of gravel used on driveways—including my parent’s driveway.  With an excessive amount of gravel blended with an unusually wet season, hazards are present—and I had to be the one to encounter one!  As I walked beside my car, there was a small drop off; it was an elevation change of only a few inches.  As I walked along, the wet ground allowed the gravel to roll my foot into the drop-off which started a chain of events that caught me by surprise.  As I kicked around trying to regain my balance I stepped into the mud where the gravel ended.  North Georgia clay does not produce good traction so my attempt to stay on my feet failed.  Down I went–flat on my back in a bed of granite gravel–so hard that both feet went up into the air as I crashed!

My precious wife lost no time coming to my aid after seeing the whole thing take place right before her eyes.  I got back on my feet hoping that nothing was broken, bruised, or missing.  I am grateful that everything was fine except my pride and I was able carry on.

I did not know that when I went to see how my mother was doing from her fall that I would experience one myself!  And both of our accidents were related to that old slick ground of north Georgia.

If what we are standing on is untrustworthy, it is only a matter of time before disaster strikes.  That is true of the ground we stand on physically, but it is even more applicable to us spiritually.  In Psalm 40, the writer acknowledged the security that a solid place to stand spiritually provided for him:  “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (verses 1-2, New International Version). 

Most of us have gone through times in life that seemed much like a slimy pit, a ravine that we could not escape from in our own power.  Like my feet trying to regain balance and stability when I slid down the other day, there are times when every effort we make leaves us no better off.  But we can rest assured that God is there to lift us up in our times of distress when we keep our trust in Him.

One of the old hymns of the church gives a powerful message of the importance of standing on the solid foundation of Christ in every season of life.  The song The Solid Rock by Edward Mote proclaims that “When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace.”  In his song, Mote declares a truth that we would all do well to adopt for our lives today:  “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.  All other ground is sinking sand.” 

Stand on that Rock—He will keep you safe for all eternity!