“Busy Beavers and Building upon Our Base” “Busy as a beaver building a new dam” is the full idiomatic expression whenever we identify the active, hardworking individual, individuals, or organizations-“He is busy as a beaver” or “She is a busy beaver.” The expression probably takes on a whole new meaning when we listen to the crisis in Northern California over the breaching of the Oroville Dam and evacuation of 188,000 people. They are “busy as beavers building a new dam” as they try to repair the dam in order to circumvent its collapse. Today, though, I was thinking about St. Paul words in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11: “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.” I remember many years ago, when I was toward the end of my college days, a call came from my parents to come home. Dad had found a small farm of forty acres that he hoped Mom and his sons would approve of. Now my Dad was a excellent machinist, mechanic, and welder; but he always had secretly wanted to do some farming. I came home and joined the family on the site. The acreage was wonderful! A little stream cut through it a one point and certainly all the outhouses/barns would fit our storage needs. Dad even argued that he would rent the arable land out to be farmed so he would not be doing it alone. But then the time came for the house inspection! Mom was not keen about this whole idea but she was quite willing to give it a fair shot. it would be Mom who would have much to say about the final decision, and it now rested upon her acceptance of the house. Well, my friends, many an old farmhouse was built for the most basic needs at the time of its building; additions were added as the needs changed-especially as the family grew. This farm house was no different. It had been added on to a number of times. Hallways, rooms, and closets didn’t always seem to quite jive with the main design of the house-but, it did, in fairness, have a charm to it. But Mom was not, shall we say, impressed. Her one vote decided the matter-and I imagine you can guess what that was! The point is that we, as a nation, and as Christians in that nation, are busy beavers. We pride ourselves on the things we “build”; the things that we believe make our society and our lives as the Church better than in the past. We need to heed St. Paul. The one and only foundation upon which we build our lives is that of Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul states that some say. “I belong to Paul” or “I belong to Apollos”; the truth is that they, and we, don’t belong to the representatives of Christ but belong to Christ. These human representatives help us discern the Christ and to understand the call and the ways of Christ but we must accept the responsibility of how we build upon the foundation that is Christ. The next time you see an old farmhouse or when you read of the ongoing situation in California, remember that all around us are the visible reminders of who we are as builders upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. We may be “busy beavers” but we need to carefully “build upon our base that is the foundation of our Lord and Savior.