2008 started with a stormy day in our region, is this a sign of things to come? Will it be the best or the worst year, will the storms of life pull us under, or will we stand on solid ground? Are our foundations stable and strong? What is your foundation? Trust in government, money, health, yourself, family, or is it in your religion? Or is it in your faith in Christ Jesus? Psalms 11:3 says "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Just as there are foundations that are dug and laid for buildings, so there are spiritual foundations upon which we can build a stable spiritual life. If our foundations are destroyed, or shaken, if we build on incomplete foundations, we compromise our ability to stand during life's storms.

I've known many people who could prophesy or pray for the sick or sing beautifully in church, but inwardly their spiritual lives are unstable. As soon as difficulties come, they fall apart. Why? As 'together' as they may seem, they have crummy inner foundations. They crumble in a storm.

Jesus puts it this way in Luke 6:47-48, "Everyone who comes to me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like; he 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."

It is not a question 'if' a storm comes, but when!Storms are part of life, everyone will experience them. Life has a way of going from calm and peaceful to turbulent and very stormy. The only way one's house can stand in these times is to have good foundations.

Jesus is saying that our 'house' represents our spiritual life, and in building this life, the foundation is the most important part of the structure. Everything else we build whether in ministry, or gifting or callings, is built upon the inner hidden foundation, laid by our relationship with Christ. Most people don't build their foundations until a storm hits. You can't build a house in a storm! Your house must be built before the storm comes. Jesus concludes His warning: "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of the house was great." I shudder when I recall the many people; good people mind you, whose house 'col- lapsed' in the storm of temptation or adversity, they have gone under, as the storm of life hit. Jesus words are true! And the ruin of (their) house was great.

As a Pastor, I am very concerned about the state of the church, or should I put it this way, the body of Christ! Are our foundations strong enough to get us through the storms that are coming? Will we be able to help others, if we can't stand on solid ground?

Maybe some of us need to do some excavating of our foundations, some are built on attitudes that are not Christ like; pride and trusting in ourselves, must be up rooted, complete trust in Christ must be established; worry, fear, sin must go, prayer must be established. Obedience to everything Jesus says!

I am talking about more then having right doctrines, I am speaking of right attitudes, biblically correct vision and theologically accurate faith, so we actually reveal the life of Christ to a unsaved world around us when the storms hit.

It rains on the righteous and unrighteous, it is all in the way we handle adversity and what our foundations are built on. If we build upon the foundations of Christ, we will certainly be found standing after the storm. May you and yours have a blessed year.

Pastor Gord Horsley, Abiding Place Ministries