Spiritual Sundays: What Is Your Rock?

The day of spiritual things.

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Matthew 24-27

Once upon a time there was a man who built a beautiful house. He made the foundation strong. He built the walls with no holes for winds to blow through. His roof didn’t leak. He made sure the house was solid before he decorated it. He loved his house and took care of it, keeping it clean and making repairs as they were needed. He planted a beautiful garden of trees, and flowers and vegetables and fruits, and herbs. He filled his home with books and art and music. He invited friends to his home where they ate delicious food, told tales and laughed a lot. He invited in the lonely and the tired, the hungry and the cold. On stormy nights he enjoyed the sound of rain on the roof, and on spring days he welcomed the gentle breezes that blew through his home when he opened the windows. One day a furious storm came up, worse than any storm he had ever experienced and the winds blew with great gusts and broke the windows and took the shingles off the roof and a tree fell down crashing through his attic, and the rains poured into the house and the oceans came up surrounding his house with water, flooding his basement. But his house didn’t move. The foundation stayed strong and the beams held together and when the storm was over, his house was repaired and was made stronger and even more beautiful than before.

Another man built his house on sand. He made it a beautiful house. The walls had no holes for winds to blow through. His roof didn’t leak. He decorated it beautifully and made it his own. He

filled it with expensive things. He loved his house and it gave him shelter, warmth and safety. When it rained he could hear the rain on the roof and know that it couldn’t get in. When the wind blew, he enjoyed the gentle breezes.

But when a massive storm came, and the wind blew with great gusts, and the ocean rose up and the rain pelted down, his house collapsed and all he had was swept away. And he was left standing on the sand, with nothing left of the wreckage.

What is your rock? What is the foundation that you build your life on? How secure are you?

In 1929 when the stock market crashed people didn't leap to their deaths in massive suicides as had been reported. However in the following weeks, several men who had lost heavily did commit suicide in various ways. One asphyxiated himself with the gas stove. Another drank poison. A man shot himself. And most tragic of all one ma,n set himself on fire, and his wife died trying to put the fire out. These men had tied up their entire finances in the stock market and lost what they believed was everything. Not only had they built their entire foundation on the stock market, they had built it all on their finances, so when they lost it all, they thought they had nothing left, and they thought they had no reason to live, leaving behind people who loved them.

People lose things all the time. We can stock up our pantries with food, have money in the bank, make wise investments, have strong relationships, love our careers, build our houses on rocks, and still, we can lose it all. Our marriages can fall apart, our children can turn their backs on us, a disaster can wipe us out financially, and even our solid houses can get wiped away in a storm or a fire. There's and entire book in the bible about a man who lost it all. Job had everything a man could desire. A happy marriage, several children, a lovely home, financial security, good health, and then it was all gone. His wife and children dead, his home destroyed, his money gone, his health deteriorated. And yet, even in his destitution as he poured ashes on his head and cried out in pain, and wondered why God abandoned him, and rose up his voice in complaint, he never stopped believing and he never stopped being faithful, even though he was in utter despair and thought that he would die that way. But he survived. And he was given more than he had before. We are living in perilous times. The handful of rich control all the money. There's a virus that keeps us in our homes and away from others. Freedom of speech is being taken away by a minor few. Wrong is called right and right is called wrong. The things we knew as true we are now being told is false. The earth is rebelling with natural disasters. Once free countries are facing dictatorships. As women started rising up and taking their place beside men, men from all sides of the political and religious spectrum are fighting back harder to control them. Pedophilia is moving its way into media and fashion. What was once heinous before is now acceptable. Children are caged and sex trafficked. Healthy young women are having their

wombs ripped out without consent. And yet we can find peace in the moments. When we sit by our hearths with the rain on the roof, or open the windows for gentle breezes, or invite a friend over for a meal and a laugh. What is your rock that you build your house on?

What is your rock?