THE (not-so) GREAT WALL OF COARSEGOLD - a cautionary tale



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In a little town down the mountain from us, a retired couple bought a lot on a hill to build their dream.  They thought if they could spend all their retirement savings and build a storage facility it would bring them good income for the rest of their lives.  Of course the county made their dream more difficult because they would be required to build a huge retaining wall to assure the business below them no danger of landslides.  So they did what was necessary to make their dreams happen.



That was ten or eleven years ago.  Now the wall is crumbling away, it started buckling at the base and eventually it has become an unsightly nightmare.  A small wall of cement rails keep auto & foot traffic away from imminent danger of being crushed by it.  Twisted rebar and crushed cinderblock protrude from the base like some kind of disemboweled dinosaur.  A few years ago they began to cover it with plastic in hopes that slowing the rain erosion might prevent  the destruction.  Instead, plastic sheeting is being shredded as the falling block rips and tears at it.

How much like this is a person whose intent and purpose is to build all their hopes and dreams on anything less than a foundation with eternal solidity.  You work, scrimp and save to build a dream.  You pour your blood, sweat and tears into designing it and you give shape to the structure of your imagination.  The only problem is, it’s being constructed on the weakest, most vulnerable of undergirdings. 

The God Who created us, designed a rock-solid foundation for a life to be built upon.  He could have no friendship with sinful man so he became sinless man to bear the cost for that sin.  He invites the lost, the blind, the dying to build where our structure will stand, unharmed by the wind, floods and earthquakes of life.

Why do people not understand this?  I simply don’t understand what is SO great about a life that is destined to end up like the Great Wall of Coarsegold? 

Whenever we drive through that little town, it reminds me to pray for those who don’t understand; the lost, the defiant, the confused, the rebellious.

Oh Father, please open their eyes!  And please use me in any way that might help!

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Matthew 7:24 – 27  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”