Matthew 12:1-21; Mark 3; Luke 6

Hurricane Matthew has done its worse. From the Caribbean Islands to North Carolina houses have been battered, businesses destroyed, lives lost. My own home received the torrents of the storm. You’ve probably seen pictures of the devastation the hurricane inflicted on the coast.

It amazes me that any building is still standing. I’m not an engineer, but I’m pretty sure a building’s foundation has an impact on the durability of the structure in a storm. A house well-built, can endure the force of heavy storms much better than one poorly built.

Not only was my house’s foundation tested these last few days, so was the foundation of my life. My house of only a month, with three boxes still unpacked, contains some of the things I hold dear. My mother’s china, my piano and clarinet, pictures of family no longer with us, my dad’s trifold flag and purple heart. Some things just cannot be replaced.

But they are things. And if I die today, none of that would go with me anyway.

I will tell you I prayed almost without ceasing for my place, for my friends’ homes and their safety, our church, our island, people I don’t know in Haiti and Florida and the Carolinas. I can honestly say my faith and trust in God did not waiver for a moment, even in the uncertainty of what was ahead. God, who does all things well, is able to be whatever we need in good times and in bad, in times of joy or great sorrow.

I learned through this storm that my foundation is secure. My life doesn’t depend on easy living or in storm-free days. God is not my God just when I’m healthy and things are looking up. He never left my side and will be my strength in the cleanup after this storm.

I learned that God is faithful in the little storms of life as well as in the face of life-changing events and challenges. He has proved that over and over in my lifetime and will continue to reveal Himself today, tomorrow, and in the future.

I have not built the foundation of my life on relationships, on money or success, or health, or church attendance.

I’ve built my foundation by devouring  God’s Word, by spending time talking to God in prayer. So I’ll continue to talk about Him and walk with Him every day. Because I am the person Jesus talked about in Luke 6:48:

(Connie) is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.