Foundation

I heard an ad on the radio this past Sunday as I was traveling from one charge conference to another. It was for a company called "Ramjack" that stabilizes foundations for houses. The promotional byte that caught my ear was the line, "Many homes in the Columbia area have unstable foundations." That is true in physical and spiritual ways. With the instability in the economy, a rise in crime, the need for a homeless shelter, and the fact that it's a lot easier to get around the city on Sunday than any other day of the week is proof enough that we need a better foundation for all our lives.

I remember hearing the story, without recalling the source, that there were two guys who were living on an island. One decided to take the beachfront property to build his house. The other thought it would be safer to build his on the rocky cliff overlooking the beach. His thought was that sooner or later a storm was going to come. He wanted to be ready. Years went by and no storm. The guy whose house was on the rocky foundation high above the sand and surf peered through his binoculars on a daily basis at the guy down on the beach. At first he thought that the guy was going to wash away and appropriately so.

After time passed he looked through the binoculars with jealousy as he saw the guy enjoying the beach. He even shook his hand at God thinking, "Here I am doing what's wise and there hasn't been a storm in sight. I lugged all these trees and building materials up here for no good reason." Well, to make a long story short, the guy on the rocky cliff finally had enough and wanted the "good" life on the beach. He abandoned his house and moved to the beach and had a great time. Then the storm came and wiped his and the other fellow's houses away. The home on the cliff didn't suffer any damage. Too bad nobody was at home.

In the storms of life I am too quick to take the easy way out only to pay for it in the end. Sounds like our economy and so many other aspects of our culture. Marriage takes hard work, and so does being a parent, a pastor, or a dedicated lay person. As a District Superintendent it would be easy to stay in bed on Sunday mornings. After all, I've been in churches and with pastors and laity all week, BUT what about my foundation. Sands shift and foundations crumble without the proper underpinning. I need a ramjack every now and then; more specifically moment by moment. If I don't start the day with Jesus, I end the day washed up.