June 8, 2020
A while back I wrote a blog that told about a very large tent that my husband and I got for a wedding present. We affectionately nicknamed it The Big Top. (I found a picture and attached it.) It was quite an undertaking to assemble. It was always just the two of us putting it up. (Even after we had kids, it was still just us, but we were also trying to watch the children.) One time, the first summer we were married we took our tent to Cedar Breaks Park on Lake Georgetown, up near Austin. I am not sure how hard the wind was blowing that day, but I remember the lake had “white caps”. This was probably our fourth or fifth time to erect The Big Top (TBT) and it was getting easier every time, as we learned the best order for assembling it. We had discovered that if we laid the tent out flat, staked it down to the ground and then slipped in the poles, that we could then use the poles to lift it up to a standing position. As we worked to spread the canvas out flat and drive the stakes in the ground the wind was moving everything that was not tied down. It felt like a hurricane. And then the strangest thing happened. Right when we got all the stakes in the ground, the wind filled the tent with air, and it “inflated” itself. We were laughing so hard. There stood TBT, ready for occupancy, without a single pole in place. Of course, we just had to unzip the door and go inside. It was like a “bounce castle” from a birthday party, all floaty and swaying side to side. We took a break and danced around inside for a few minutes. Since putting the poles in was our least favorite part, it was sure tempting to just let them stay outside on the ground. But can you imagine what we would have awoken to if we just moved in and went to sleep? When the wind died down, we would have been trapped inside and looked like a couple of idiots! Well, at least it was super easy to get the poles in place with the tent already standing up. And we had a great breeze for the rest of the weekend which always helps with the Texas summer heat. If we had not staked the tent down, but had put the poles in first, I imagine the entire tent would have blown away. That firm foundation was essential for success. I recently read Max Lucado’s book, “Anxious for Nothing”. In it, he compares our belief system to tent poles. He says: “Your belief system is not concerned with the exterior of the tent but the interior. It is the set of convictions (poles)—all of them unseen—upon which your faith depends. If your belief system is strong, you will stand. If it is weak, the storm will prevail.” Staking down a tent gives it a sturdy foundation, and poles are added to stabilize it and make it useable. God's promises are the foundation and the stakes and our faith in Him is the most important “pole”, the tallest one that all the others connect to. If we can believe that God is in control, and trust that He always wants what is best for us, then our tent is sure to remain standing. Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV) says: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” Matthew 27:4-5 says: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” Stand firm in your beliefs! Smile and be joyful!
A while back I wrote a blog that told about a very large tent that my husband and I got for a wedding present. We affectionately nicknamed it The Big Top. (I found a picture and attached it.) It was quite an undertaking to assemble. It was always just the two of us putting it up. (Even after we had kids, it was still just us, but we were also trying to watch the children.) One time, the first summer we were married we took our tent to Cedar Breaks Park on Lake Georgetown, up near Austin. I am not sure how hard the wind was blowing that day, but I remember the lake had “white caps”. This was probably our fourth or fifth time to erect The Big Top (TBT) and it was getting easier every time, as we learned the best order for assembling it. We had discovered that if we laid the tent out flat, staked it down to the ground and then slipped in the poles, that we could then use the poles to lift it up to a standing position. As we worked to spread the canvas out flat and drive the stakes in the ground the wind was moving everything that was not tied down. It felt like a hurricane. And then the strangest thing happened. Right when we got all the stakes in the ground, the wind filled the tent with air, and it “inflated” itself. We were laughing so hard. There stood TBT, ready for occupancy, without a single pole in place. Of course, we just had to unzip the door and go inside. It was like a “bounce castle” from a birthday party, all floaty and swaying side to side. We took a break and danced around inside for a few minutes. Since putting the poles in was our least favorite part, it was sure tempting to just let them stay outside on the ground. But can you imagine what we would have awoken to if we just moved in and went to sleep? When the wind died down, we would have been trapped inside and looked like a couple of idiots! Well, at least it was super easy to get the poles in place with the tent already standing up. And we had a great breeze for the rest of the weekend which always helps with the Texas summer heat. If we had not staked the tent down, but had put the poles in first, I imagine the entire tent would have blown away. That firm foundation was essential for success. I recently read Max Lucado’s book, “Anxious for Nothing”. In it, he compares our belief system to tent poles. He says: “Your belief system is not concerned with the exterior of the tent but the interior. It is the set of convictions (poles)—all of them unseen—upon which your faith depends. If your belief system is strong, you will stand. If it is weak, the storm will prevail.” Staking down a tent gives it a sturdy foundation, and poles are added to stabilize it and make it useable. God's promises are the foundation and the stakes and our faith in Him is the most important “pole”, the tallest one that all the others connect to. If we can believe that God is in control, and trust that He always wants what is best for us, then our tent is sure to remain standing. Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV) says: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” Matthew 27:4-5 says: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” Stand firm in your beliefs! Smile and be joyful!
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