We have been reminded.
This has been a hard week for so many people.
Heavy rains and wind have caused damage and power outages that have toppled trees, electric poles and flooded areas.
We hear the weather reports and warnings, but is there really much we can do?
We can be alert to try to get to a safe place in case of tornadoes or high winds, try to get to a higher safe place in case of floods, and try to stay away from trees that might turn loose of the saturated ground and fall over.
But the wind and rain are powerful, and we are vulnerable when they turn dangerous and threatening.
We lived in a lovely neighborhood in a new house when we were expecting Daniel.
However, the builders didn’t account for the additional, fast rain runoff caused by so many new roofs on the houses.
The rainwater came off the houses and flooded the yards and drainage ditches with no place to go.
Of course, the rain water rushed into the new homes.
I was about 8½ months pregnant. My father had a heart attack and was in the hospital as the doctors worked to save his life. Gary was home alone when the rainstorm hit and began to enter under our front door to cover the house up to the electric outlets.
First, he rushed into the nursery and began frantically putting all the baby gifts into the baby bed to keep them out of the water. He stuffed whatever he could under the doors to try to slow, if not stop, the water. Then he watched helplessly as he stood in deeper and deeper water as it poured into all the rooms.
The Bible talks about building your house on solid ground in Matthew 7:24-29. Jesus says everyone who “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice” is like a “wise man who built his house on the rock.” (…24)
“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (25)
In contrast the foolish man built his house on sand and “the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (…26, 27).
The foolish man did not hear and put into practice the words of Jesus. When trouble and disaster came into the foolish man’s life, he crumbled.
Jesus is the solid rock we can build a life everlasting on. Hear His message! Do what He says!
Don’t be caught in the storm, floods and winds of life alone and helpless.
