On the Rock

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 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.

Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV)

These words come from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in which He addresses and captures many of the values that are to be characteristic of a wisely lived life. He talks about the importance of building our lives on a solid foundation.

We left Missouri during the summer of the American Midwest "Great Flood of 1993." The previous year's rainy autumn, followed by heavy winter snowfalls and persistent, repetitive storms in the late spring and early summer filled the mighty Mississippi and Missouri riverbanks to overflowing.

In places like St. Louis, river levels were nearly 20 feet above flood stage, the highest ever recorded in 228 years. While the 52-foot-high St. Louis floodwall, built to handle the volume of the 1844 flood, was able to keep the 1993 waters out with just over two feet to spare, entire towns were evacuated. Crops were damaged. Property was destroyed. Havoc resulted. And still the rains kept falling.

Just south of St. Louis levee breaks near Columbia, Illinois, flooded 47,000 acres of land, inundating neighboring towns. The released water continued to flow parallel to the Mississippi River, approaching the earthen dike that protected the historic towns of Prairie du Rocher and Fort de Chartres. To force flood waters back into the river, officials decided to break through the stronger river levee.

I doubt that I'll ever forget television coverage of the intentional break. I watched in horror as a large, white farmhouse, torn from its foundation by the force of the raging, brown waters, was toppled and swept away in an instant. The engineer's plan ultimately worked and saved the historic towns.

Jesus said that the person who obeys His Word is like "a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:25). If we build according to the unwavering truths of God's Word, we will not be swept away when crises hit with flood-like force. The tempests of temptation and the storms of suffering will not be able to sweep us off a solid foundation of faith and obedience.

Dear friend, adversity may come. Yet because we are anchored to the unshakable Rock, we can emerge with our character strengthened. Are you building your life on the solid foundation--Jesus Christ?

Blessings, dear friend.
Faithfully Following

L-i-f-e

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.
Luke 12:22 (NIV)

My day had not gotten off to a very good start. I'd inadvertently set my alarm clock for 5 p.m. instead of 5 a.m. and overslept. Everything seemed to simply go down hill from that point.

Guilt about our upcoming move had compelled me to commit to make a fresh batch of brownies that morning for my daughter's school bake sale. Because I was running behind schedule, I rushed the baking time so I could make an appointment to sign closing papers for the sale of our house before heading to the office. Chewy around the edge of the pan and gooey in the middle--a perfect "two-sensation" pan of brownies I reasoned through my daughter's disappointment. Besides, it was either that or showing up with nothing.

As I sat in traffic, I shouldered the blame from a phone call with my long-distance husband the evening before that ended on an angry note. At the same time I fretted about how another move would affect our family, particularly our kids.

When the yellow caution light began to blink on my SUV's dashboard, I was all but ready to yank out the annoying device. "Hey! We're really low on gas here. Are you trying to get stranded?" it seemed to scream at me. Willing myself to ignore the warning, I vacillated...stop and fill up the fuel tank? Take my chances and continue on to the office for a meeting for which I was late and was to deliver a presentation? What a day. And, it wasn't yet nine o'clock!

In the New Testament book of Luke, Jesus teaches about worry (Luke 12:22-34). Five times within this short passage of Holy Scripture He encourages us to not worry needlessly. He desires that we give Him our concerns and that we trust Him to take care of them. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God empowers us with wisdom to recognize and avoid unrealistic expectations. He also enables us through faith in Jesus to accomplish what He sets before us without burning out from stress.

Stress is a fact of life. However, when we carry guilt from the past, borrow fear about the future and live in worry of today, we'll become overloaded. We may exhaust our personal resources and ignore those that come from our relationship with God. Through His Word, God works to strengthen our faith so that we trust Him to provide for our needs and handle our concerns.

Dear friend, it's particularly on those days when we spell stress "l-i-f-e" that we need to seek first God's kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33). He promises to strengthen our faith, enabling us to trust Him at all times and in all situations (Psalm 56:3).

Blessings, dear friend.
Faithfully Following

How long?

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

Psalm 13:1 (NIV)

I'd arrived at our current location just eight months earlier when my husband's company decided to reorganize the executive staff. In other words, we were without a job.

After a six-month search, he landed a new position and had gone on to join his new company in another state. Our son and daughter were away at college in two other states, and I'd stayed behind to sell our house. With barely enough time to unpack from the previous move, much less develop any new friendships, I was never more lonely. I'd never felt more forgotten.

All believers go through difficult situations. Sometimes it's hard to see how God is working through them. In frustration we begin to feel forgotten, especially when it seems our prayers are going unanswered.

In Psalm 13 we get a sense of David's deep perplexity at God's silence to his prayers. Four times within two verses he asks "how long." In his misery it seems that God has forgotten him.

In his lament David comes to understand his perspective is not a divine one. He does not give up all hope and he prays for God's mercy and justice (vv.3-4). He then asks God to "give light to my eyes" so that he can have the strength to carry on and endure his enemy's opposition.

Dear friend, we are not forgotten. God's mercy is enduring and unfailing. Like David, let's direct our hearts to trust God's abiding mercy. Where hope despairs, as children of our Heavenly Father in that despair we always have Hope. With a new perspective, like David we can sing songs of praise for God's goodness (vv.5-6).

Blessings, dear friend.
Faithfully Following