As the NCAA men’s basketball tournament comes to its conclusion with the championship game tonight, those of us that have been watching the tournament have seen the same commercials over and over for 3 weeks now. I can picture Charles Barkley ending every Capitol One credit card commercial by turning to the camera and asking the viewers, “What’s in your wallet?”

Jesus (yes, I know I just segued from Charles Barkley to Jesus) points us to ask ourselves another question similar to that one as He winds up the Sermon on the Mount. He closes with this parable: “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 rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

So I ask, “What’s in your foundation?”

I think it is of the utmost importance to note that the storms came to both the wise man and the foolish man. Just because the wise man built his house on rock didn’t mean that the storms would miss him. In life, bad things happen to both the wise and the foolish. Bad things happen to the godly and the ungodly.

We don’t think that is fair, but this side of Heaven fairness isn’t something that comes along frequently. When we really think about it, none of us are perfect anyway so who is to say that it isn’t fair that we experience the storms. We are saved by grace, not by our works.

But, the distinction is that if we root ourselves in Jesus we will survive the storm. Not always in an earthly way because the death rate is still 100% (that stat was last double checked 4/6/14). But we will survive on a deeper level. Jesus watches over His sheep. Death is not the end of the story!

Here is a storm I am going through now. Laura and I are experiencing “radio silence” in our adoption process going on 2 months now. We had OUR timeline for how this was all supposed to work out. We would travel in June to get our little girl so I would have the summer to spend with her before the busyness of another school year starts up. But, God’s plan is different from ours. And His plan is better. No, I don’t understand that now but I know that He is God and I am not so whatever His plan is will work out in the end better than my plans.

My job in the meantime is to build my foundation on Him.

What storms are you going through in your life? What is the foundation of your life that is being revealed as the storms pound you? Are there changes you need to make in your foundation to keep it from crumbling?

Remember that Jesus is the master builder!

More to come…
Jeremy