Lessons from France Part 1/4: Mont Saint-Michel (Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:46-49)

We spent a couple of weeks this May in France. I wrote to you here last week about some of the things the Lord taught me in Lourdes, France. Today I am going to chat about some of the things He showed me through some of the other places we visited. We visited a lot of places!

One place we visited was Mont Saint-Michel. This was an amazing place to visit. This is a city on a tidal island in Normandy that for years and years, if you did not know your tides well, you took your life in your hands to visit; if the tides came in while you were walking out, you would be swept away to sea; they come in so fast and so powerfully!! The city fills the entire island. Walls are around the outside. The city then goes straight up a hill – door to door – small roads, no spaces between the buildings up to a giant church, an Abbey.

Mont Saint-Michel was one of the few places to remain unconquered in the 100 Years War. Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in1469 and he intended that the abbey church of Mont-Saint-Michel would become the chapel for the order. During the French Revolution, revolutionaries attacked Church and State; robbing, pillaging, and guillotining as much as they pleased, the island was even turned into a prison because just like assailants could be easily drowned, so could escapees. The prison is gone and the monks returned and they are still there today and it was quite something to see this amazing church and we were there as well as they were leading Mass.

What struck me was the unassailable nature of the rock that Mont Saint-Michel is built upon. The rock protected people for 100 years and more. It is a perfect analogy for Jesus who is our rock, our salvation – and the one who really protected the abbey and the Island. If we remain on The Rock (Jesus and His teaching) we can survive anything, though the tides of life come in sweeping all away who are not on the rock if we remain on the Rock of our Salvation, we will stand. This is my encouragement today – let us never leave the Rock of our Salvation. Let us stay secure in His teaching by reading our Bibles. Let us stay secure in our relationship by praying and mediating on the Word regularly, and let us invite everyone we know to the safety and security that is life with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

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