Foundation with No Rock is a Muddy Mess - Tami Gilman

My house is at the end of a dirt road. My husband and I certainly knew the road was not paved when we chose to build our house there, but being nestled in a wooded lot in the quiet neighborhood was worth it. Besides, there was a drought at the time and other than the dust, it wasn’t much of an inconvenience. Dust, my friend, is a lot easier to wash off a car than mud is.

There are rumors that twenty or so years ago the developer of the neighborhood (who is now as old as Moses) had a layer of gravel sprinkled over the dirt road. Proper drainage, culverts and ditches were never dug, however. Over time, the gravel has washed away, potholes have appeared and sections of our road wash out with heavy rain. Our neighbors have been meeting to discuss a solution since the state says it’s the county’s problem, the county says it’s Moses’ problem and Moses is not taking any responsibility as the original developer of the neighborhood. At some point last week, the gravel fairy drove through and dropped a load or two of new gravel onto the road. It is peculiar because no one is claiming they had it done. While we are all grateful, the road was not properly prepared for the new fix and has only masked the problem.

It occurred to me as I drove home in the rain last night that our lives are similar to the road. If you do not have a proper foundation rooted in Christ, the next storm will wash away all we have done to cover up our flaws and quickly expose them. If my road had been scraped, crowned and covered with a thick foundation of rock as a base, the rain would not have fazed it. It would have washed away in those new ditches and through the culverts that would need to be installed for my illustration to be accurate. Instead, even though someone was nice enough to spread new gravel, the ruts, potholes and mud resurfaced after only one rainfall. I notice that some of the neighbors drive around the potholes and ruts and others drudge right through them. Sometimes we avoid issues in our lives and other times we make them worse with poor choices.

As we attempt to operate in our own strength and apart from God, even the best intentions can’t complete us as our Heavenly Father can. Even if you believe in God, accept Christ’s salvation and are filled with the Holy Spirit, you must actually allow them to take an active role in your life. If you believe that God is too busy with other people or His purpose in your life is to punish you, even as a Christian you will remain a rutted, muddy mess. Instead of covering up the issues with a layer of gravel, put on your rain boots, grab a shovel and get to work asking God to help you clean out the ditches and fill in the potholes in your life. Then as the rains come, we are not affected. We are complete in Christ and even when the enemy uses other people or our own minds to create a muddy mess in our spirit, we allow the negativity to roll into the ditch and be carried away.

Luke 6:47-49 (New International Version)47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."