Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 19. 600 Miles to Why… God’s Love Legacy

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Hello human.

The Turnaround

In April of 2019 we entered the Lincoln Tunnel for another quick roundtrip NYC – Outer Banks. To check progress on a home we were building on Kitty Hawk Bay. Our road goal was to reach the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel by 9:30pm; and our OBX hotel before midnight. We planned to meet our son the next morning, who was making an early drive east from Raleigh. As we approached the bridge entrance a little ahead of schedule, we slowed to the visual of hundreds of cars in the parking lot. And an officer. The 17-mile bridge was closed due to 55 mph winds. We wondered why so many were willing to wait out nature’s timeline.

Seemed like a sure road to an overnighter in the car.

We turned around, eager to find the alternate route. Impatient with GPS misinformation about country roads, we opted for old school. A gas station cashier told us the only way—to backtrack north 100 miles thru Salisbury to US50 West. We naively applauded that westward turn 100 miles later, only to traverse another 180 miles of dark, unmarked roads before registering a dependable GPS location.

Another 350 miles. Outer Banks ETA 8am. We were closer to NYC than the OBX. We had traveled 600 miles to be 190 miles from our starting point, now paused at a dark, isolated intersection of choice. If not for our son, we would have turned toward our City home.

It was then that I realized God had a bigger WHY for this trip, challenging us to accelerate our commitment, to double down on our intent. It was going to cost us more. Exhausted, we headed south for 350 more miles, crossing the bridge into OBX at 8:07am. We checked in. Heard a knock. Our day had begun.

After an overnighter in the car.

Proverbs 3:5

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

At this point, I had yet to understand.

Big Drill. Very Big Drill.

The first view we saw from the bottom of our ascending driveway was a group of “sticks” gathered at the top of the hill. It grew in stature as we hiked to the top. The sticks were pilings, vertical structural elements needed for a deep foundation, driven, or drilled deep into the ground. In our case, a foundation of pilings to stand firm against wind and water.

These pilings are not hammered into the ground by a human hand. No, rather a very big drill, drilling down to the bedrock to stabilize a house that will withstand hurricane winds, fierce rain. In all, withstand the collaboration between the sound and its matriarch, the Atlantic Ocean.

Standing next to the pilings was humbling. The hope and heft of those towering anchors; the sure stance of each wooden pillar. On this day—during these few hours together—we shared what our home would be built on. Seeing father and son standing together on our land, I began to see the WHY.

Legacy Pilings for Life

This is how deep God’s pilings anchor our lives with those we love. Because even the Atlantic Ocean is no match for its Creator.

How deep? I will never have a drill big enough for eternity pilings.

On some days—I dig deeper into His word, especially heavy writing days; on others I read a couple of verses, drive a short stake into my understanding, pray, and go—always anxious to hear His voice, but not always willing to wait for it. I try to mentally “stay present” in His word throughout the day, to help turn me away from selfish actions and a world-ridden attitude. Stay prayerful, focused, faithful.

My struggle is consistently sporadic and human.

But Jesus uses His Father’s drill.

Every day—Jesus is drilling His sacrificial love deep, deep into my heart, giving me an unyielding foundation on the bedrock of His cross. While I am pounding “earthly stakes” of human scope and scale, my Savior is bringing in His Father’s drill and setting eternity pilings. He is anchoring my perspective and understanding in His love to elevate my view of His kingdom. His spiritual pilings sustain me every day. Through incoming storms and insane sunsets.

What I will always have is my Savior’s bedrock on which to build my character and my life.

Paul writes to the Corinthians:

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 1 Corinthians 3:10-13

Bold choices, Paul.

It sounds like being a wise builder is not for the weak-hearted.

If you live in the Outer Banks, you understand pilings. And a hurricane-proof frame, windows, walls, doors. Code requires it. Likewise, Paul tells us that the quality of materials we use to build our spiritual character within our earthly life will be tested by fire. What we use to build our character on His eternal pilings should cost us. Our time, spiritual gifts, and resources—our most valuable, most enduring qualities that will stand the test of fire. This should put our daily introspection on a mental loop:

• How will His word build my character on his legacy pilings… today?
• With whom will I share my spiritual gifts… today?
• Which assets and resources will I give to others… today?

A mental loop that reminds us about what we are building. Spiritual character.

Lookin’ for Buoys

Our little road trip was not over when we left our work site. Traveling back to NYC I wrestled with an entangled mess of what I call “truth knots.” I had my big WHY, the legacy pilings, but I was mentally churning to clarify – to untie the littler truths in my subconscious. I was looking for buoys from this frustrating, demanding 24 hours. Buoys I could share, that anyone can hang on to over and over again.

From this road trip:

Here is the Buoy so near | The solutions God puts in front of you might be one parking lot away. Don’t overlook solutions in close proximity. Had we pulled in and asked a few people, we would have gained insight about how long the wait might be from daily bridge commuters. We may have been only one or two brief conversations, a much shorter wait, and 17 miles from the ‘south’ side of the problem. Just sayin’… God is in the parking lot with you.

From this road trip:

Here is my Buoy adrift | Your faith is anchored to God. He keeps pace when you make decisions that run you adrift. He builds your character, perspective and understanding along your misguided human way. When you backtrack, detour, drift, you will still reach your destination IF your faith is tethered to His faith. You are the only one who will ever let go. God will never let go.

From this road trip:

Here is my Buoy afar | The distance you travel is not measured in miles. It is measured in love and truth. To drive 600 miles with 350 left to go a 440-mile trip to your destination doesn’t add up in your favor mathematically. But spiritually you reach your destination when you embrace the WHY of your trip. The spiritual distance we travel in our experiences IS the destination.

God drills deep to give our love legacy a permanent foundation.

God drills deep to give our love legacy a permanent foundation. There are transitions with children, our loved ones, that illuminate our mortality and our legacy in unexpected ways. Whether it is a home, a shared family experience, a bond from hardship, they are all a love bridge between our lifetimes.

What am I talking about, really? How we embrace our love for Jesus is no shallow faith walk. How we love is designed to run deep, girded by God’s legacy pilings. The “next generation” is not some distant ship far out at sea. Our love legacy is what we leave the next generation we are closest to. We do not leave our loved ones earthly things. All of that passes. We leave the legacy of how we love.

Paul writes to the Ephesians: 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19

Take the WHY Road 

I’ll be writing about 600-mile WHYs for a long time. How do I know this?

Because I am human. Because I was so stubborn about not wanting that drive to ever have happened. I fought those 600 miles throughout the week. I mulled over the turnaround moment ad nauseum. I traveled an additional 2,000 mental miles over it. Although I had learned big God-stuff, I was in denial about owning the choice to backtrack 600 miles. Not denial because I thought waiting in the parking lot would have taken less time, but denial that the price paid to learn my God-stuff was too high. Not necessary. Wouldn’t I have learned it without all those miles? No.

By the end of the week, mentally exhausted, I accepted it: Life is full of 600-mile WHYs. You have to double down to go the spiritual distance. God will ask you to make that commitment again and again, not when you think you are ready, but in the center of chaos, an unexpected challenge, a hasty decision, a messy experience that makes you road weary, and wondering about the WHY. You won’t be prepared; you won’t have packed for it. You will have no opportunity to “regroup and rest” during it. But God’s plan for you is this: your WHY is how you will grow. And you have to be fierce about wanting to grow. About wanting God’s WHY. God’s way.

For what? The view He gives you of His Kingdom. To share with the generation who first follows you, second walks alongside of you, then passes on the love legacy to the generation in their midst.

Because we leave the legacy of how we love.