Building Our House On The Rock

     My grandson and I were on our way home from taking his sister to school.  A few houses away from ours, were two dump trucks and an escavator.   My grandson became very excited, saying "Truck!" Over and over again.
      We went for a stroll down the street to see all of the excitement.   My grandson was jumping and pointing and yelling "Hi truck!"  We stood there watching for about thirty minutes.  I overheard some of the workers, it seems the house where they were digging has a foundation problem.  "Oohh." I said, that looks expensive.
      I was beginning to get cold, and my grandson was asking for a drink.  It was time to be on our way.  There was plenty of head turning and waving "Bye bye truck!" from my grandson.
      After retreating inside the house, my grandson had his nose to my living room window, continuing to watch the trucks.  I began picking up childrens books that had somehow migrated to my living room floor.  I sighed, wondering if this was going to be the way the rest of my day would go.
     I began thinking about the house down the street.  A cracked foundation seemed to be a very huge deal.  It certainly looked like an expensive repair to say the least.
     It reminded me of a parable in the Bible.   Matthew 7, two men, each build a house, the wise man builds his on rock, the foolish man builds his on sand.  When a bad storm blew in, the wise man's house built on the rock, stood firm.  The foolish man's house built on sand, didn't withstand the storm.   This parable is meant to represent our life, in two different ways.  First, God is our rock, second, even the best house will never stand without a solid foundation.
     I couldn't help but see the parallel to my life.  My husband and I have both worked hard, and continue to, we love each other, we raised two children with love, teaching them morals, values, as well, to respect others.  We did our best.  We built our family foundation on the rock.   Unfortunately, when the storms came, our foundation suffered a crack.  Once a crack forms, it continues to get larger and larger until it crumbles, or it gets repaired.
     A cracked foundation is no fun.  It allows water and other debris to seep in.  In order to fix it, the whole wall needs to have the earth removed from around it, the crack chiselled out and filled, the wall tarred, and an impenetrable membrane attatched to the wall.  The repair almost seems worse than the problem, but when it's finished, there is no more leak.  The hole gets filled in, the grass grows back and life goes on.
     I keep thinking about the problems our family has endured over the past few years.  I envision everything we have had to go through with our family, much like a cracked foundation.  It was difficult, and many times we felt like we were making a bigger mess.  But, like the huge hole, the sticky tar, the chiseled out crack, by appearance, they seem to be making the situation worse.  Together, they not only repair the foundation, they make it stronger.
     I look at my family's problems like a group of workers.  They have dug the big hole, and now they are at the point of chiseling out the crack, so they can add more mortar.  It is difficult and painful, but it has to be done in order to fix the problem. Imagining this, has made it easier for me to endure our current situation.
     God never said we wouldn't have problems if we built on the rock, he said, He would be our rock when ours crumbles.  I'm holding onto His promise.
   

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