Thursday, December 3, 2020            (today’s lectionary)
Building on rock
Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an eternal rock.
I thought construction on highways ended in the winter, but I guess not. Driving through one concrete divider tunnel after another, surrounded by semis, made my trip back and forth to Austin difficult, especially after dark. I sang Christmas carols, made up words, prayed a lot, listened to God talk back to me, and made it through. At the motel I collapsed into bed.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever.
I learned some things. On the next trip I might find ways to avoid those “tunnels,” especially at night. And I won’t be tempted to drive off into Google map-suggested country detours when there is a delay on the interstate. The one I took a couple days ago took me down rocky dirt roads, over two rickety bridges, and then back to a clogged highway anyway.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light.
With the car loaded there is just enough room to see through the back window and out the side window at the car’s “blind spot.” I feel like a pilot, cocooned in my seat with no room anywhere else. It’s cozy.
 Jesus said, “Listen to me and build your house on rock. The rains fall, the floods come, and the winds blow, but your house will not collapse.
I saw a billboard. “Anxious about many things? Jesus can help.” He sure can. My prayers and God’s encouragement were more important than anything else on my trip. On the next trip (starting Friday) I will focus even more on those gifts.
G. K. Chesterton cleverly describes holiness with an example from family life. In Austin our family thrives. Back in Urbana, Margaret also thrives. Bouncing back and forth between them, alone in my car, God’s family comes, I worship, and I thrive too.
Christianity, even enormous as was its revolution, did not alter this ancient and savage sanctity; it merely reversed it. It did not deny the trinity of father, mother, and child. It merely read it backwards, making it run child, mother, father. This it called, not the family, but the Holy Family, for many things are made holy by being turned upside down. (from Heretics)
(Isaiah 26, Psalm 118, Isaiah 55, Matthew 7)
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