Feet on the Rock, Eyes on the Cross

In 1637, Portuguese settlers built an enormous cathedral on a hill overlooking the harbor of Macao on the South Coast of China.  Atop the huge structure, St. John’s, was a massive bronze cross.  While they believed the structure could weather any storm, not many years later, a typhoon hit the area and destroyed the cathedral.  All of the massive building was swept into the sea, except for the front wall with its bronze cross.

In 1825, there was a shipwreck in that harbor.  Many aboard died; only a few survived.  One man clung to wreckage from the ship, moving up and down with the swelling waves.  As the sea tossed him about, he became frightened and disoriented, so much so that he didn’t know where land was.  But then he spotted the cross atop the cathedral.  With the cross as his focal point, the man made it ashore.  His name was Sir John Bowring.  That same year, Bowring wrote these words about his experience:

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’er take me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me:
Lo! It glows with peace and joy.

Bowring, who would later become the Governor of Hong Kong, wrote a total of 88 hymns.  This one, In the Cross of Christ I Glory, reminds us that when the storms of life threaten to crush us, we need to keep our focus of the cross.  We’re to be like that wise man who built his house upon the Rock.  That man, and his house, stood long after the storm had past!  Upon who or what are your eyes focused?  Is it time to look toward the cross?  –Dave

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25).

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