Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25 (NIV)

It’s a simple enough reminder.

This morning began with swirling emotions of personal struggles, along with an awareness of concerns around the nation and world. The noticeably cooler breeze, although slight, provided a moment of encouragement for the hopes and dreams still held for our family, country and world.

Those thoughts and breeze put a spring in my step as I set out to post the American flag and retrieve the morning paper. And then as I walked back up the driveway to the house, with the breeze causing the flag to flap, for just a moment my thoughts and eyes were lifted to a better place.

We need that reminder. A reminder of that better place.

Maybe we do because of the sobering moments of this last week recounting the tragedy of September 11, 2001, when all the insanity and the reality of the existence of evil in the world was frozen forever in one horrific morning. Maybe—even as we remembered that sixteenth year since that day—it’s because Americans and other peace-loving people around the world have forgotten that moment.

The other day marked sixteen years since we stood frozen—as we heard the news. A moment where we collectively held hands as a nation and turned to God for help. Maybe we need a reminder today because of all the busyness that has clouded the recollection of that day.

There’s a lot going on in our lives and all around us. Too much to keep track of really. Too many variables in the decisions of the day-to-day living of our lives. Too many opinions and pockets of influence trying to have their way in our lives and the life of our nation. Too much debris and rubble. Too much to wrap our arms around to try to control.

We know, of course, that disappointments will happen anew today and this week. Some of our careers will get off course. We will lose loved ones. Finances are tight and we wonder if in retirement our living will outlast our finances. Some of our relationships are becoming less than we had hoped they would be.

And then the realization hits us that we can’t control it all.

In the midst of all that is swirling around us, we forget that. In the midst of it all, we lose our focus and forget where to turn for guidance for that next step.

We need that reminder.

So where, then, do we find it? Where then do we turn?

In his remarks at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance on Friday, September 14, 2001 after that day, the Reverend Billy Graham called us forth then, and forever when he said—

Underneath the debris is a foundation that was not destroyed. Now we have a choice: Whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a Nation, or whether we choose to become stronger through all of this struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation. And I believe that we are in the process of starting to rebuild the foundation.

That foundation is our trust in God.”

So where do we look on mornings and days like this? And all the others.

Maybe today is not one of those mornings for you, as it has been for me, but we all know we will have them. So, where do we look?

As we stand there with paintbrushes and paints in our hands before the blank canvases of all our tomorrows—where do we look for the inspiration and guidance to paint the portrait for today and for the rest of our lives, and for the futures of those little lives of the generations which will follow us?

Reverend Graham made it very clear in his remarks. Jesus Christ made it very clear in the scripture above recorded by the Apostle John in his Gospel. In the midst of all the debris and rubble in our lives and of all the stuff and moments we find all around us that we can’t control, they both tell us to look to the Foundation. To look to Jesus Christ.

No matter what is going on personally or elsewhere—look to the Foundation of all the world. It is there we will find stability, clarity, truth, direction and hope.

Simple enough. And it’s a Foundation which will forever be there, and which calls us past all the rubble and debris, opinions, influences and stuff—toward Him.

And Jesus said, “Scott, I am the resurrection and the life…Do you believe this?”

I do. How about you?

In His Name—Scott

Copyright 2017. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.