GROUND ZERO

Just before Christmas, 2019, I was on a day of prayer, seeking God for what he had for his Church in 2020. Almost immediately, this was spoken into my mind: “You will return to Ground Zero. It will be a year of weeding, sifting, and purging, and many will leave the Church.”

That was a hard pill to swallow, given how well I thought we were doing at the time. Yet three months later, the world was hit with Covid-19, and what I had sensed was a word from the Lord has unfolded before us pretty much exactly like that.

BUILDING AND REBUILDING

When I was a young boy, my parents gave me the first ever Lego Castle set for Christmas. On the front of the box was a picture of what it was going to look like.
The vision of the completed build was a glorious thing.
In my excitement, I ripped open all the bags of pieces and dumped them on the floor in a heap.
The pile of rubble in front of me was much less glorious than the picture of the final product.
Still, I was not daunted. I knew all the pieces were there for the completed castle.
Each piece had its proper place.
It was just a matter of finding where and how they were all supposed to fit.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that if I wanted this castle to turn out like the picture, I couldn’t just do whatever I felt, or thought was right.
Every builder must follow the blueprint.
I pulled out the instructions that came with the set and began to study the pages carefully. As I looked at the first layer of the foundation, I noticed that there was one particular block needed before the walls could go up.
I had to start with the cornerstone.
Scanning the pile of pieces and rifling through them for what seemed like forever, I realized that my impatience in dumping out all the bags into one pile was now costing me precious time. I simply could not find it.
In desperation, I prayed my very first prayer of faith: “Jesus, if you’re real, help me find the piece I need.”
When I opened my eyes, it was as if there was only one Lego block in my field of vision—the cornerstone.

True story.

Over forty years later, I find myself with déjà vu. My Father has given me this amazing gift where I get to partner with him in building his Church. And the vision he has of the final picture is more glorious than any of us have imagined. Yet during COVID, we have watched the Church be all but reduced to rubble. Still, Christ’s promise stands, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

The Creator has provided the blueprint. All the pieces are there, even though they are scattered all over the place. We recognize our need to return to Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone. We recognize that unless the Lord builds Vernon House of Faith, the builders labor in vain.

As in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Spirit of God is stirring the hearts of those who will come and be a part of the rebuilding.