If you attended Sunday School or Vacation Bible School as a child you may remember the little song we learned about the wise man and the foolish man. One built his house on the rock. One built his house on the sand. There’s a verse in the song that says – the rains came down and the floods came up. It ends with this: ‘the house on the rock stood firm’.

I was thinking about that song as I watched the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. That storm traumatized complete cities, wrecked properties and tragically took the lives of some who stayed to ride out the storm. Here’s the thing that struck me as I’m remembering that little childhood song. Even when our house is built on a firm foundation the rains and floods, wind and fire can cause us to need to move to higher ground for a while. Houses built by human hands are only temporary.

Jesus wasn’t talking about our house when He told this parable in Matthew 7:24, 25. The Message tells it so well. Jesus said, “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.”

Wow! Did you hear that?! Nothing moved the house that is fixed to the rock! He was talking about our spiritual home…our soul. It is immovable when it’s built upon the Rock of Jesus. Yes, disasters in this world happen. Yes, they are hard to bear. But, the most important foundation isn’t the one under our house. The most important foundation is who we build our life on! Fix our soul to the Rock that is our Lord Jesus!