A Rock in a Soft Place

Whizzing along the road from Masaka, chatting to our self-invited passenger Jerome, we suddenly heard and felt a bang under the vehicle. Driver Charles immediately pulled on to the verge and quickly confirmed what we knew: a tyre had blown.

Out came the jack and tools, the spare wheel released from under the rear of the vehicle. It looked OK. Jerome helped Charles set up the jack and loosen the wheel nuts and up went the van.  Anxious about the traffic racing past, I stood a little behind the vehicle to post a warning.

However, a problem was encountered. The jack would not go high enough to release the wheel. So Jerome and I went off to look for a rock. The problem with that was we had stopped by a swamp. No rocks. After some searching and poking around, we found some a hundred metres away and triumphantly carried them back. They were used to support the vehicle, and to raise the jack, so the wheel change was successfully concluded.

Sometimes a little rock is what you need in a swamp.

Psalm 40:1-3 is one of my favourite Bible passages: I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

I have always thought of this metaphor as applied to my own life and thinking. For me, the slimy pit and mire was the confusion of my own thoughts and the trouble I got into by living life on my own terms. God has placed my feet on a rock. Now I am thinking of the people we have been with, for whom much of their day to day life must seem like struggling in the mud. So the actions taken by our local partners to place some rocks under their feet, giving them shelter, food, and well targeted help are a life saver from the Lord. Certainly we know that they are thankful and that those in their communities who see it are impressed.