By Brother Robert Wadleigh

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.  1 Corinthians 3:9

If you’ve spent any time on The Bridge, you know we talk often about the foundation.  You probably know our foundation isn’t concrete and rebar, so you may have guessed the building Paul referenced in Corinthians isn’t just drywall and paint.

On June 30, Brother Nobles highlighted another part of the building.

As he described it, a pillar provides support for the building.  The area of the foundation on which the pillar sits must be dug deeper and reinforced to bear the load.

In Galatians, while speaking about his meeting with Peter, James, and John, Paul said, they ”seemed to be pillars”.

Obviously, there was something about those men that caused Paul to identify them as being different.  It may have been where they sat or how they dressed, but more than likely, it was what they said and how people responded to them.

So people can be pillars.

Think about someone who made such an impact in your life that you can’t imagine being who you are without them.  More than likely, someone came to mind immediately.

It might be your grandfather, a teacher, a dear friend.

Whoever popped in your mind either taught you something or shared in a time of your life that you’ll never forget and that helped shape you.

Sometimes you might not be particularly close to that person.

They might be someone who set an example for you to follow and they may never know the impact they’ve had on you . . . unless you tell them.

Sometimes you may be that example and not even know it.

What else?

Experiences.  Either shared or individual experiences can also be pillars.

Brother Nobles used the pillar Jacob erected in Genesis 28 as a remembrance of the ladder God showed him coming down from heaven to demonstrate this concept.  Jacob’s “pillar” was nothing more than a pile of rocks, but it reminded him of that dream and God’s promises every time he saw it.

He went on to share his dream with others and that “pile of rocks” became a memorial to anyone that believed in God’s promises.

Believing is important.

Just like with Jacob’s experience, your experiences will become pillars to you, but don’t expect others to see your pillar for what it is to you.

If they didn’t walk through your experiences and they don’t share the faith those experiences created in you, all they will see is a pile of rocks.

Brother Nobles shared one of his pillars with us.

He talked about a particular service when he was a teenager.  He described a powerful Holy Ghost service, which, when it was over, it wasn’t over.  Riding home that night, in sister Jean’s car, the spirit was so strong they had to pull over in Brother Jack’s driveway.  Others, thinking sister Jean was having car trouble, stopped to help and were overwhelmed by the Holy Ghost once again.

That experience helped shape Brother Nobles into the man of God he is today.

As he shared it, we felt it, but if we didn’t trust his words or feel the spirit in which he spoke, it would have just been “a pile of rocks”.

Revisit your pillars.

Pillars are there to support the building.  They can be people or experiences.  They can be collective or personal.

Whatever your pillars are, if you look to them they will help you.  They will remind you what God has done for you, they will show what He has brought you through, and they will give you strength to continue until the end.