Digging Trenches

Behind our office is a pretty formidable drainage ditch. It’s made from concrete, about 10 feet deep, with wide sloping sides that reach about 15 feet across at the top. 

We live on the east side of the Rockies, and are protected by Pike’s Peak. We get so little rain, keeping grass alive in our yard was impossible. We replaced it with rocks.  

Every day I look into that ditch and see a small trickle of water, that doesn't even cover the bottom. Why the heck is it so big?

Then one day, black clouds poured over the mountains and dumped everything they had on us.

I glanced out my window and the big ditch brimming with water. It was raging. It was awesome… and a little bit scary.

Most of the time life can be pretty mundane. Get up, go to work, help the kids with homework and go to bed.

There may be some general struggles but for the most part, it’s routine. But every now and then, dark clouds come, unleash suffering and we find our lives raging.

It’s in those moments we find out how deep our ditches are. We find out how wide they are. We find out what they are made of.

Without a depth of relationship with Christ or breadth of understanding of who God is and who we are our lives are easily flooded. Without the concrete base of the Word, our faith is easily eroded.

The thing about ditches is, once the rains come, it’s too late to start digging. You’re flooded and rushing out of control downstream.

The Bible is clear that we are going to experience trials. The question is, are we preparing ourselves?

With last year’s fires, here, there’s not a lot of vegetation on the mountainside. City officials have warned that if we get too much rain, even our big ditch may be overwhelmed.

That’s true for us as well. Sometimes we get hit with too much. We've done the right things. Our faith is strong. Yet we find ourselves flooded and hurling, out of control, down the raging river.

When those times happen, cry for help. Reach out to people on the bank. It’s what the church is for. It’s why we have been given to each other.

And trust that Christ meant it when he said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Rain or shine, he is our hope.