myjourneyuntilnow….
April 15, 2023
Repairer of the Breach….(Isaiah 58:12)
Yes, the little girl in this picture is me, probably age three or four. The handsome man next to me is my dad. He is turning the first shovel of dirt as the building chair of our new church sanctuary and education annex. Nearly fifty years would pass from the time this picture was taken until I would see it for the first time…..
By the time this treasure was placed in my hands, I had become firmly and passionately dedicated to what I believe is my purpose for being on this earth. When I ponder the significance of that little girl with a Bible in one hand and the other hand on the shovel, I wonder, I truly wonder, did she have any idea what the future would hold so many years ahead. Did she dream of “building” something for God? What would it have looked like in her mind’s eye?
Isaiah 58:12 says….”And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations, and you will be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of the streets in which to dwell.”
While there are many suggestions about literal and spiritual meanings for this passage, today I must consider an application that is very specific to this point of my travels.
I can “see” the vision of a campus right where Mission Missouri is located that includes new residential beds, a training center, worksite programming…..yes, I can “see” it, but it is very possible that is not the “building” task assigned to the little girl in this picture.
Perhaps the “building” is more about “repairing the breach”....”restoring the paths”....maybe it is about one person at a time being repaired, restored, reunited with the divinely created purpose.
“Repairer of the Breach”.....to wall up, to build a wall, to close up, fence up, hedge, enclose….to discover where there are gaps and breaks in the wall……”Restorer of the streets”.....then to restore, bring back, make those paths fit for life….a place for dwelling safely.
The day may indeed arrive when there is a beautiful Mission Missouri campus through which the people will receive the much needed services to become healed men and women in spirit, soul and body. But until that day……there are obvious gaps….there are broken individuals whose walls have crumbled…..there are families who have become lost in a system of silos and overworked employees….there is a breach that is waiting to be repaired.
Will you join me in discovering what it means to be a “Repairer of the Breach” in today’s world? Can we submit that all our dreams of beautiful buildings and bigger programs are miniscule compared to the dignity and miracle of each and every person being fully repaired, restored, and returned to the capacity for which they have been created? I would certainly hope so…..because if so, we all have hope.
Jane Pfefferkorn