I drove by the site yesterday. I am not sure what is being built on this location now, however, I do know what was there just before the wrecking ball came in. There are very few abandoned, standing but essentially destroyed buildings in Abu Dhabi. Old, well used, and enduring, yes, but abandoned, ready to fall, no.
I stood for a moment in silence. The site was so different. The rusted piles of scarred metal had been hauled away. The building, apparently ravaged by fire, was taken apart and removed. Even as I wondered about today, I carried a vivid memory of standing on the site with no fences or anything to masquerade the reality of where things stood.
Seeing anything with utter transparency is unusual. I look in the mirror and see someone younger, fitter, and ready to take on the world. As I recalled looking at the semi-standing structure, I could see the telltales of destruction and neglect. Twisted steel that usually held things in place was scattered and left where they landed. The dangerous structure did not need a sign of warning, it was scary to look at it from a distance. I cannot imagine being under its beams. I understood an old description with transparent clarity; “Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison.” (Romans 3.13)
Someone could see beyond the destruction to the way things could be. The transformation would not be easy. The rot and carnage of yesterday would need to be removed to make room for the new. Investments – time, material, and creative discipline – would be required before anything could begin. The first step was a belief in what could be.
The old has gone, the belief had been put into action. Looking at the possibilities, it was hard to remember how bad things were. In many ways, it does not matter if one appreciates the gift of what is to come. Hope, investment, and change are Creation’s voices. A new structure is emerging, I wonder what comes next.
