I Will Be With You

 

On my vacation, we went on the Architectural Tour of the Chicago River. It was a beautiful day to float down the river. You get a very different sense of the city when you are down on the river going by all of the buildings. You see building that you have never seen before and become aware of the variety of building styles there are.

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One of the buildings that fascinated me was 150 North Riverside. When you begin to go by the building the first thing you notice is that the bottom is smaller. As some people say it looks like a tuning fork. There is an angle to the building for five stories it expands. Then you notice the beauty of the glass. The way you can see the clouds and other buildings. Our guide told us its history. There was this empty space that couldn’t be utilized because of the challenges of having the railroad blocking part of the land. They gathered together engineers, architects, and construction workers to develop a plan that would make building possible. They came up with the design people jokingly call the guillotine. The final test they had to run was what would happen in a strong wind. Would the sway be too great for the building that was smaller at the bottom. They figured out how to place the pilings deep enough to help keep it strong enough for the load. But they needed something more. So they placed at the top these giant tanks of water. When the wind blows the water shifts in the opposite way from the building creating the stability needed for high winds so the building does not sway too far.

These invisible water tanks create stability. 

"When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:2

God provides that water that makes us stable. When we have hit a rough patch in life, God serves as a ballast to help us come through to the other side, to keep us upright when the winds want to knock us down. To steady us when its seems like the world is shifting beneath our feet. God is with us in the moments of trouble, challenge, and difficulty allowing stability to reemerge.