(Sarah Kincaid – Oakbrook Terrace Corps) – When you hear the word fortress, what do you think of? I first think of a fort. The idea of forts transports me to back to the 4th grade when my neighbor Emily and I ‘built’ a fort in my backyard. Behind the house my family lived in were loads of trees and brush type bushes that met a swamp. We hollowed out a grouping of the bushes and bent tree branches to create a dome shaped fort. We swept clean the dirt floor of twigs and debris and I ripped off the backcovers of my mom’s Reader’s Digest magazines that always had reprinted painting on them to hang from the skinny trees within the fort. I remember being very proud of the fact that our fort wasn’t too girly but it was clean and well decorated. We would seek refuge in our hollowed out bush fort when we didn’t want to play with her brothers anymore and when my older 8th grade sister wasn’t around. It would have been really shameful for Emily, a 6th grader, to be caught playing in a fort decorated with Reader’s Digest pictures, with me, a 4th grader. Although I do remember being offended by her rejection, I understood in some way her dismissal of me. Even at a young age, it made some sense to me that at some level people in my life would eventually let me down and in some respects fail me. Despite getting ditched I still would retreat to our ‘fortress’ to escape any issues occurring in the house and to probably read the ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ section of those Reader’s Digest magazines I had slightly vandalized. I remember looking up through the canopy of branches and tiny leaves and seeing a little bit of the sky and feeling safe, protected and that good feeling when you’re alone, because you’re not really alone.
In the past few months I have been very conscious of the concept of ‘fortress’ and working to figure out what that means in relation to who God is, not really who God is but what God is. I’ve sang in congregations, youth meetings and Bible studies the hymn ‘A mighty fortress in our God”. We’ve corporately sung the traditional version and versions with added choruses and bridges and faster tempos. But the lyrics and theme are all the same, well maybe a little different here and there with the lyrics from being translated from German, but surely the same theme. Verse two says, “Did we our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing; were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is he; Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle.” Yes! What an awesome verse. This hymn is in inspiration of Psalm 46. Verse 1 and 2 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;” This truth applies everywhere in my life and in yours. From getting ditched in the 4th grade, to feeling completely disconnected and alone in high school to when you feel helplessly afraid your family will fall apart. He is a very present help in trouble. “From age to age the same, He must win the battle.” The battle is His, not yours; He is your refuge and fortress. The last verse of the hymn sings, “That word above of all earthly powers, no thank to them abideth; the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still, his Kingdom is forever.” He is above all earthly power and comfort, and from age to age he is the same, and His kingdom is forever. That is some truth I can find refuge and fortress in.