As 2011 winds down I have a New Year’s question to pose to you. If someone were to use your life for a preaching platform, would you be able to hold up his or her weight, or would you collapse like the stump I recently tried to stand on?

Before the opening session of our recent men’s retreat, I went for a walk in the woods to pray, and I spied what looked like the perfect platform to stand on. It was a huge stump of a massive tree that had been cut down close to the ground, and I thought it would be fun to use it as a mini-stage to think and pray from.

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Unfortunately as I leapt on top of it, my feet sank several inches in to a mushy, ant-infested mess. The massive tree trunk had been devoured from the inside, and despite its impressive appearance it was a hollow shell that folded under the slightest pressure.

My little stint on the stump got me thinking.

1. Am I living a hollow life, or is there enough substance in me to support the work that God is trying to do in and through me?
2. Do I have any hidden areas that still need to be confessed to a safe, appropriate person?
3. Are there any wrongs in my past that I have yet to make right?
4. Are there any wood-eating ants chomping on my character from the inside out?

I think these are good questions, and I think the end of the year is the perfect time to ask them. As we move together in to the blank page of a New Year, let’s do what it takes to build lives that are solid all the way to our core.