Two Houses and One Big Storm

Once, Jesus told a story about two builders. Lean in close. This one is for you.

He told it at the very end of his great hillside talk, the same long day he had pointed at the fed birds and the dressed-up wildflowers. It was his last word before the crowd went home, and he wanted them to carry it all the way there.

There were two men, and each one wanted to build a house. A real house, with a door that shuts and a roof that keeps the rain off your head. A place to be warm and safe.

The first man was in a hurry. He found a wide patch of sand, smooth and soft and easy to dig. This will do, he thought. So he built right there on the sand, and he was finished before supper.

The second man worked harder. He looked and looked until he found rock. Deep-down rock, the kind you cannot budge no matter how hard you shove. The digging was slow. His arms got tired. But he went all the way down, and he set his house on the rock, and it held fast.

Two houses. In the sunshine, they looked almost the same.

But the sunshine doesn't stay.

One night the storm came. Oh, what a storm. The rain came down in ropes. The rivers rose up and ran fast. The wind leaned its big shoulder against the walls and would not stop.

And the house on the rock? It stood. The wind howled and the water climbed and still it stood, because away down underneath, where no one could see, it was holding tight to something that does not move.

But the house on the sand? The sand turned soft and slippery and slid away. The house leaned, and the house cracked, and the house came down. All the way down. And it was gone.

Now here is what Jesus wanted his friends to understand. The storm came to both houses, the hurried one and the careful one alike. Storms come to everyone you love, and one day a storm will come to you too.

So the question is never will a storm come. The question is this: what is underneath you when it does?

Jesus said the rock is his own words. The wise builder is the one who hears what Jesus says, and holds on, and builds his whole life right there.

And do you know who that rock really is? It is Jesus himself. He is the one thing in all the world that the biggest storm could never wash away. The wind has already done its very worst to him. It could not move him. Not even a little.

One day the very last storm will come, the great and final one, and everything that was only ever sand will slip away for good. But everyone resting on Jesus will still be standing, warm and safe and home.

And that holding has already begun in you, the moment you hear his voice and lean your whole weight on him. Right now, today, you are being built on the rock.

And the One you are standing on is coming back. When he comes, you will see at last what your whole life was built upon. It will hold. It will hold, and hold, and never once let go.