June 2026 Rock Newsletter
- Robert Harris
- Jun 15
- 4 min read
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Built UpA Devotional from President Mike SwalmHalf a lifetime ago, I got a summer job as a cribber. Cribbers jump into huge dirt holes to construct footings and basement walls. We would spend all day lugging large plywood sheets into the hole, as well as rebar and heavy iron bars. Once the hole was properly filled with material, we would construct the forms to hold the concrete being poured for foundations. It was gruelling work and I only spent one summer at it before I knew it wasn’t something I could do long-term. But the nature of the work stuck with me. We were working on a particularly large and (soon to be) ornate home on a hill overlooking the city of Calgary. It was the peak of summer, and the heat was pretty intense. We worked for a number of days to meet the complicated floorplan requirements, and then we showed up one morning ready to pour. That was when the geologist showed up. He did some testing and then made us stop before we poured an ounce of concrete. The ground, he said, was not properly compacted. He warned that if we built the house as it currently sat, it was in danger of sliding down the hill at a heavy rain. The result of the report was a tough one for us: we had to pull out all our work, then dig another 14 feet down, build a full foundation that was backfilled, and then build another foundation on top of that concrete foundation. Two FULL basements with tightly spaced rebar to ensure that the house would stand. These days I hear a lot about spiritual deconstruction. And I certainly understand the necessity sometimes. For many people, the edifice of their faith is built on a foundation that is sadly standing on unstable ground, and so it’s important to take down what has been built on a flawed foundation. It was a lot of work for us to tear apart the forms that were already there, but it was necessary work because a bad foundation would have yielded a bad building. But the more important part of the work I was doing, and what I’m really passionate about with our students, is re-construction. Too often folk deconstruct their spiritual edifice, and then leave it deconstructed. God calls us to be built up in our faith, so instead of leaving the hole in the ground, I’m excited about making sure the soil is solid, and building a foundation that is focused on Jesus, centered on the gospel, and built in the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus makes it clear with his parable: “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.” – Matthew 7:24-27 Grand buildings and incredible followers of Jesus are built the same way: on a solid foundation that is well-planned and directed. I’ve stood in beautiful cathedrals that soared to the sky, and stood with beautiful men and women whose faith inspired me to walk with God more closely. They all shared a solid foundation that could withstand whatever tried to disturb it. This is a big part of why RMC does what we do. We believe that God is calling women and men to follow Jesus and to be built up as God’s church, a light to the world. And this is best accomplished with good buildings, built on solid foundations. We care deeply about what God is doing in this world, and we care about who God is working with to do that work. So let’s keep building!  President Mike Swalm |
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