Psalms 91:1-2
1. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Romans 6:3-4 (NLT)
3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Some days, well, actually most days, I need a fortress and a refuge. Living life on life’s terms just sucks sometimes. How do you explain the mess we have here today? Please don’t blame Christ for it because that doesn’t explain the Middle East, Far East, Europe, South America, Mexico, Chicago, etc. Actually, life there is increasingly influenced by the absence of the tenets of Christ. Yeah, the US is headed that way too, but that’s life.

So, I have a fortress, a refuge that makes sense. A place to go out from, a place to retreat to. A place to go out to battle from, to live fully in a broken world, to try to be a beacon of light in a place whose native state is pretty dark and nasty, continually reborn to live a new life.

2 Corinthians 4:11
11. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.

The battle against the tide of darkness is really amazing, to see lives turned, to see hope bring people back from hopelessness, to start a new life after generations of insanity, to see God, Christ and the Holy Spirit changing people from their core. That’s worth coming out of the fortress for, that’s worth anything and everytthing.

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The fortress is always there.