Cross-Posted from DaleGlading.com
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Many years ago, Deanna and I were members of a wonderful independent Bible church in New Jersey. The people were extremely friendly, and the preaching was 100% biblical. What a great place to raise our children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
The sanctuary, which was built in the 1970s, was very nice, too. In fact, it had enough room to accommodate at least 200 people, not including the balcony. Shortly after we started attending, the congregation even voted to add a state-of-the-art air conditioning system, which made worshipping on steamy summer mornings much more comfortable.
The only problem was the fellowship hall, which had been built in the 1950s before the old sanctuary was torn down and replaced by the new one. There was nothing wrong with the actual construction per se, but the foundation had been laid on fill dirt. And so, over the years, it began to slowly settle, causing cracks in the wall.
Deanna and I began attending the church shortly after we were married in 1985, and we stayed for 22 years. Over the course of those two decades, there was one subject that dominated virtually every congregational and deacon’s meeting that I attended: What should we do about the crack in the wall of the fellowship hall?
Instead of acting decisively, the deacon board continued to kick the proverbial can down the road, choosing to monitor the crack with a series of pencil measurements, each one documented and dated. The “wait and see” approach continued year after year while the crack widened inch by inch.
I have learned two very important lessons from that experience. First, make sure that your foundation is laid on terra firma. That goes for actual physical construction as well as in matters of faith. Jesus Himself taught that houses that are built on rock withstand life’s storms. Conversely, ones that are constructed on ever-shifting sand collapse when the rain falls and the wind blows.
Jesus, who was a master carpenter, was speaking both literally and spiritually. Contractors probably nodded in agreement when He spoke in terms they could easily understand and identify with. However, I am sure that they – and the rest of the crowd – also grasped the deeper meaning of the parable.
I think that one of the reasons why the United States of America has survived and prospered for 248 years is that our country was built on solid Judeo-Christian principles. That foundation has served us extremely well, but it is starting to show some wear and tear – and more than a few cracks – as politicians, academics, the media, and the entertainment industry all seek to deny our spiritual heritage and undermine our foundation of faith.
Ronald Reagan understood the dangers of turning our collective backs on God, saying that “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
“The Founding Fathers believed that faith in God was the key to our being a good people and America’s becoming a great nation,” the Gipper said. “Our National Motto – In God We Trust – was not chosen lightly. It reflects a basic recognition that there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes homage.”
President Reagan also believed that “Inside the Bible’s pages lie the answers to all the problems that mankind has ever known. I hope Americans will read and study the Bible,” he added.
Unlike the secular humanists who are determined to rewrite American history, Mr. Reagan proposed that “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” He reasoned that “Without God, there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience… without God, there is a coarsening of the society; without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.”
The second lesson I learned from my “cracked church” experience was that sometimes you just have to gather the necessary information, pray hard for wisdom, and then pull the trigger. “It’s time to fish or cut bait,” my dad was fond of saying… and he was right.
I can remember telling my fellow deacons that I would support any decision they made – whether it was to demolish the fellowship hall and build a new one on true bedrock or to add a second story gym on top of the existing structure. “Just make a decision,” I counseled them to no avail.
Deanna and I relocated to another town in 2007 and started attending a church closer to home, so I don’t know what happened to the fellowship hall or the ever-widening crack. However, I do know what will happen to America if we do not return to God and our founding Judeo-Christian principles. Simply put, the cracks in our foundation will continue to widen until we wind up on the dustbin of history.
