A visit to Gracefield last Saturday helped put things in perspective for me. We went to enjoy a day's canoeing on a lake now once again free of ice after another winter. The lake as a part of God's creation is still as beautiful as it has been for years well beyond the number of birthdays we have counted.

My canoeing was interrupted by a call to come to the aid of the workparty organised by the property committee to deal with a freak and sudden change. Last fall, a survey was made of all the decaying trees that should be culled to ensure public safely. One tree not on the list, however, was the massive, apparently healthy 100-plus-year-old white pine that towered over the East Block washrooms, separating the "Hes" from the "Shes". In February, a mighty wind blew through, and snapped this great tree off twenty feet above the ground, sending it, providentially not across the new roof of the washhouse, but crashing down on the power line leading through the trailer park, blowing out the transformer on the main Hydro line, and taking down the secondary power pole supplying electricity to the washhouse, the trailer park, and the camp's workshop.

The power company replaced the transformer, but informed Gracefield that since the power pole had been installed by the camp, its replacement (and a second pole now required by law to sustain the line to the workshop) were the responsibility of the camp. To save the cost, estimated at several thousand dollars, of having the power company install the poles, the camp's property committee proposed to do the job voluntarily.

I joined a crew of nine other men who had cut down two cedar trees, which when trimmed and stripped were each twenty-six feet long and six inches in diameter at the thinnest point, and dragged them, with the aid of a truck and a chain, from the other end of the property through swamp and snow, and were preparing to attempt to install them. Our one minor problem: the base of the old pole taken down by the falling tree remained well-anchored in the ground in the specific location where one of the new poles needed to be. We began digging with shovel and pick axe, and quickly discovered that a few choice hundred-plus-pound rocks had been firmly planted around the base of the old pole, to a depth of four feet. Several hours and a sore back later, we managed with chains, iron bars, and a cinder-block fulcrum, to excavate the rocks and pull the old stump. Shovelling out the sand, we finally struck at a depth of five feet the bedrock of the Canadian shield. Using a series of ropes, all ten of us then managed to raise the new pole, and with the aid of gravity have it drop into place. As we paused to muse on the work involved, we all acknowledged that the crew who had installed the old pole twenty-five years earlier had done a good job: it was not designed to move! We consoled ourselves with the thought that it might well be our grandchildren who would have to do the job next time!

We are reminded by the author of Psalm 102 -- a man afflicted by trouble who amid change and decay is prone to wonder about what will last -- that God is the everlasting One.

Psalm 102: 25-27 - "In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end." (NIV)

The author of the letter of the Hebrews also is thinking about God, and fixes his eyes on Jesus, the "exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1: 3). He then quotes these same words from Psalm 102, to call his readers -- who have been ejected from their synagogues for embracing Jesus and are struggling to find their feet amid the loss of their traditions, friendships, positions, and so much else -- to fix their gaze and their hope solidly upon Jesus. He is the Rock, his way is perfect, and those who stand upon Him shall not be moved.

The psalmist concludes his affirmation of faith and hope in this way: "The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you." (Psalm 102: 28) The new Gracefield governing group is beginning to talk about a 100-year plan for the preservation and development of the property. What do we want to pass on to our grandchildren and their grandchildren after them? Amid all our changes, let us embrace firmly the One is who is eternal and unchanging. May the legacy we leave for others be one of faith in Jesus and faithfulness to Him, even if we expend much toil, sweat, blood, and tears.

Your pastor, not too much worse for wear, and grateful to spend energy building upon the Rock,
James T. Hurd