(This is one of my Back-to-its. As I round the corner to finish up writing a thought on each chapter of the New Testament, I realize what a stumbler's walk it has been. If the name fits wear it...)
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
-- Jesus; Matthew 7:24
We all choose to build our house (life) on something. If we don't choose, by default the choice is made for us. And really, that is worse than choosing poorly.
When I was in Jr. High we built a shed. It came as a kit from Sears; just a simple metal shed. Our next door neighbor must have seen the same sale ad in the paper. The following Saturday two sheds began to go up, very close to one another on opposite sides of the fence. Ours went up much more slowly because it began with a cement mixer, a pile of gravel, one of sand, 80# bags of cement, a wheelbarrow and shovel, and child labor.
The next door neighbor's Taj Mahal was complete by the time our foundation forms came off. It was a little embarrassing to me. My dad knew what he was doing.
The side-by-side sister sheds were completely identical to the eye a year after completion. Grass grew up around the bottoms to hide the secrets of each and it was in the days before string trimmers.
Spring is tornado season in central Oklahoma. On a particular spring day several tornadoes surrounded. It was not a tornado however, but an 85 mile per hour straight wind that revealed truth, and made a lasting impression on me. My family stood watching the storm through the South-facing big bay window. The sky was a mixture of reds and greens and whites - colors that shouldn't be in a sky. (Oh - a note: That's what we Okies do when storms hit; we watch them. In retrospect, a basement might have been a good idea.)
I vividly recall turning my attention to two side-by-side, seemingly identical sheds - one with a hidden secret. The wind beat against them as the hail pummeled. I can imagine their screams of aluminum terror. Then suddenly, the shed next door simply rolled over - three times actually. On the third roll it leapt into the air, and upon hitting the earth disintegrated into it's pre-assembled parts and blew away. Gone. Nothing but a bare spot where once had been a glorious shed.
The next morning I walked out to our shed. It was hail-scarred and a little out of square. But it stood. And all the things it protected within were undamaged - saved by the shed's secret: a firm foundation.
We all choose to build our house (life) on something. If we don't choose, by default the choice is made for us. And really, that is worse than choosing poorly. A good foundation makes all the difference. We can drive stakes as deeply as we desire into unfirm ground. But eventually, they will tear away. When we build on a strong foundation, we weather the storm. Sure, we may be hail-scarred and a little out of square. But we will stand. Jesus promised.
One of my favorite Psalms reads:
I waited patiently on the Lord;
and he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
Out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
-- Psalm 40:1-3
Storms will come. You and I know it because we have lived it - are living it. Jesus said lives built on his words will stand through the storms. What words? He specifically refers to those we know as the Sermon on the Mount. These are words of relationship with God that overpowers religious presupposition; purity of motive (heart) that kills pretense and bigotry; authenticity that destroys hypocrisy.
We are all building on something. And I hear the wind...
God, I will build my shed on you, the rock and only secure foundation.
For now...
D
