An olive tree in Ithaca in Greece, reported to be over 1,500 years old.

Scripture

I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. Psalm 52:8

Observation
Olive trees endure. In places like the Garden of Gethsemane, olive trees still grow that once sheltered Jesus as he prayed. What is more remarkable is that these ancient sentinals still produce fruit. For example, in Croatia on the isle of Brijuni, an ancient olive grows now 1,600 years young, and yet it still produces about 30 kilos of olives each year. Aged and fruitful, olives are symbol of life-giving stability.

Like the Ents in the Lord of the Rings, so God’s forest needs trees that endure for a very long time. Their gnarly presence is a comfort in the midst of constant change. And because God is at work in lives like this, there is never a use-by-date, instead they continue to produce oil-rich olives.

Application
I want to be an enduring tree in the house of God. For years I have most admired elders in churches, who like stabilizers in a ship, keep the people of God steady and forward moving. The secret is in the source. Such enduring men must trust in the lovingkindness of the Lord. This is love that flows from covenant. It is given not because it is deserved, but because it is the nature of God to continue to give it. An ancient tree will watch much history pass by, and knows that one event in and of itself is not enough to stop the flow of God’s grace. The mercy that is new every morning will yet flow from the covenant heart of God to us. More fruit will come.

Prayer
Father, make me an endurer. Give me roots buried deep in lovingkindness so that I am known as one who is always there and evergreen. Amen.

Amaze yourself with these Nathan Sawaya’s Lego sculptures on CNN and his blog.

Scripture

For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,

‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’ Acts 4:11

Observation

Back in April of ’79 I was a senior in high school saving for college. My summer job was working construction. The boss had just finished laying rows of cinder blocks 27 feet tall. My job was to pull down the scaffolding. I ate my McDonalds lunch from that sky perch and did two historic things. First I made a time capsule of junk food as I put the McDonalds packaging into the holes in the wall. And then I did what no one can resist: I wrote my name and the date in the wet concrete in the top course of blocks.

No one can resist making their mark in stone. There is graffiti etched in sandstone along the Oregon Trail from the 1850′s. There are tags in Roman catacombs and even the Egyptian tombs. I once asked a graffiti artist what it was that drove him to spray paint his tag on blank walls around town. He said, “It’s the desire to be noticed.”

Every human longs for significance and wants to make their mark. Deep down, somehow, in some way, for some moment of time no matter how brief we want to be important. Otherwise Gold Class, First Class, Platinum would not exist. We want to end up on top of the heap of humanity and be treated special.

We are each special to God, but he has designed it such that none of us can claim to be superior. That’s why this little phrase is repeated over and over in the Bible:

The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.

The “cornerstone” is not a shinny granite block at the bottom of the wall, it is a huge monolith at the top of all the courses of stone. The cornerstone in the temple was the largest building stone on earth. It was a rectangular block of rock nearly the size of a house. The walls of the Temple were built with man-sized blocks of granite. The rows and rows of huge stones were held in place by the top capstone. It was pure genius as it withstood earthquakes for centuries.

Application

Here’s the point for us: we are definitely not the capstone, that’s Jesus. Nor are we dirt because the stones were built without mortar. Instead each of us is a living stone with a part to play in the wall, high or low, visible or invisible wherever the Stone Mason wants it to rest. Once each of us is in position, Jesus takes his place on the highest level and holds us in place.

It is a secure feeling being locked into Christ submission. Like a row of Lego blocks, he puts me where I belong and holds me secure. And submitting to his Lordship is a joy because he did not take this exalted position for himself. The stone was rejected and God the Father himself hoisted him into the highest place. Jesus’ authority over me is submission and that is a joy.

All comes together when Jesus is in the right place over our lives. Jesus will only be in the right place when I confess that Jesus is the cornerstone, I am not.

Prayer

Father today I want to stumble on Jesus so I find just the place I am to be. Amen.

Here’s a massive tree I caught on Fraser Island.

Scripture

When she arrived, she saw the newly crowned king standing in his place of authority by the pillar at the Temple entrance. 2 Chronicles 23:13

Then he set up the two pillars at the entrance of the Temple , one to the south of the entrance and the other to the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz. 2 Chronicles 3:17

Observation

It was a day of national emergency and marshal law. The malicious Queen Athaliah was being evicted from the throne and the tender Joash was being crowned as boy-king. The nation was shaken to its foundations. The hope of the country rested on the shoulders of an 8 year old kid. He was the last surviving heir to the throne. Without him David’s line would be extinguished, the promises of God dashed and the promise of the Messiah dissolved. So much depended on a child just old enough for the second grade.

In such a scary moment, where would an eight-year-old go? Look, there he is, the little Joash in his miniature royal robes and tiny crown. He is standing on the top step of the temple, looming over his head are thirty feet of bronze pillar and the little body and beating heart are pressed hard against it. He was a brave little man.

The pillars had names. One was called “Jakin” which means “he establishes”. The other is named “Boaz” which no one is really sure what the name means. But everyone knew immediately who Boaz was. He was the dashing businessman who set everything aside to help a foreigner called Ruth . His love healed Naomi and her husband’s house and saved the royal line for King David.

Just as Boaz was the kinsman redeemer for Ruth who could come under his protection, so the Lord would be the redeemer for that nation. In the shadow of the perpendicular bronze it was not hard to feel safe. The little hands of the boy-king held the scroll-work tightly as if it were a mother’s skirt. The Lord was his only defense in this day of shaking, and the Lord brought him through.

It was a cool morning in the dark rainforest when I met a tree that had been waiting for me for at least 800 years. I later found that six humans linking hands could barely encircle it. This sentinel of the forest invited me to sit in his lap. I rested my head against the coarse skin and pressed my back against the muscles under the bark. I reflected over all that tree had seen in his lifetime. King John signed the Magna Charta when he was a sapling. The printing press, Columbus ‘ journeys, Valley Forge , the Emancipation Proclamation and D-Day all happened around his swaying braches. Yet still he grows through many storms. For a moment I felt enfolded in a stability of centuries and could better imagine the unchanging character and nature of our eternal God. More than trees and pillars, the Lord is strong and mighty to save from age to age the same.

Application

There are days that our world is rattled and where we run to for support tells everything about our faith. We can run to friends, or connections, or diversions, or medications, or perversions of good things. Instead the pillars of God welcome us to come and stand where boys become kings and the wisdom of centuries is downloaded with one touch. There is only one safe place in time of crisis: that is in the love of God in Jesus Christ given to us. When we become absolutely secure in God’s love for us in Jesus nothing can rattle us.

Prayer

Today Father today I wait in you and find comfort in Jakin and Boaz. You will establish for you are the kinsman Redeemer. You are faithful. You promise me that you will not disappoint me. I reach to you Lord and ask you to rescue me. Amen.