The Builder, The Storm, The Reconstruction
Updated: Oct 15, 2019
Recently I followed my husband to Florida. He does construction work here and due to a great quantity of work in the area, he has been planted in Panama City for a while. While here we have witnessed the devastation that hurricane Michael caused a year ago on October 10, 2018. The Lord laid it on my heart to pray for the people here, so many of which are suffering, or trying to get their homes repaired or rebuilt. God impressed deeply on my mind the passage of Matthew 7 and Luke 6 in which the wise man built his house on a rock.
Luke 6:46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Luke-Chapter-6/
HURRICANE MICHAEL
When Hurricane Michael began it was a late season storm, not expected to become very powerful. Hurricane Michael had its beginnings as a tropical depression on October 6 within the Gulf of Mexico with 50 mph sustained winds. It was classified as tropical storm by 4:55 pm. on October 7 as it dumped loads of rain on Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It was first classified as a hurricane on October 8. By October 9, Hurricane Michael was classified as intense. Hurricane Michael’s strength peaked on October 10 as a category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 155-160 mph. as it made landfall over Mexico Beach, Florida late in the day.
Ranking by pressure makes Hurricane Michael the the third most intense Atlantic Hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States. Most noteworthy before making landfall was the speed at which Micheal intensified while chugging over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico: sea surface temperatures along Michael’s track were approximately 0.75-1.5°C warmer than average. This aided Michael in intensifying from a 35 mph tropical depression to a 145 mph hurricane in only 72 hours.
The people in its path had only 3 days to hear and prepare for this storm. Of course, its predicted path was only a prediction as was its strength. It takes a day or two for people to get the idea a hurricane is approaching. They at most probably had 2 days to prepare. Its like someone telling you, you probably but not for certain, have two days to move out and you don’t have time to take more than what is absolutely necessary. And you may not be able to come back for awhile and then only to see what you can salvage from the storm that might wreck your home. Many of the people I have talked to did not leave. They all tell me they would leave if given the choice again and never want to pass through anything like it again. And most of them had to leave their homes for some amount of time after the storm had passed to find shelter Because their roof or windows or walls or entire home was no longer safe to live in.
Unless they were already prepared for the storm, they did not really have a chance to further prepare.
The storm surge was forecast to be 6-13’ above mean sea level (msl) and came in at 14 feet above msl. We are talking about tide waves of 14 feet above sea level. Think of a one story building and add a half a story to that height. Many of the houses at ground zero, Mexico Beach, were built slab on grade compliant 6 ft above msl and the flood was 8 foot above that so they were washed away.
Hurricane Michael retained wind speeds of 100 mph or greater long after coming on land. It affected the panhandle of Florida, Georgia and eastern Alabama bringing tornado/wind damage to countless areas and severe loss of crops and timber. It weakened to a tropical storm after 3 days of landfall.
Hurricane Michael was truly a unique event. Since 1851, and prior to Hurricane Michael, only nine major hurricanes have made landfall over the Florida Panhandle (Figure 10). Michael, as it stands now, is the most powerful storm to impact the Florida Panhandle in recorded history. It's estimated damage was worth $25.1 billion.
Friends, Jesus told this parable because there is a storm coming. A spiritual storm In which we must be securely grounded on the Rock of our salvation.
FOUNDATIONS
5Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
A long time ago a wise builder constructed heaven and earth. It was He who is God. With forethought our Wise Builder laid a strong Foundation or Cornerstone which would stand the test of time.( Job 38:4; Hebrews 1:10; 1 Peter 1:19-20.) God gave Adam and Eve dominion over this earth and told them to build their personal house on this wise foundation God had already laid. Adam however, though instructed regarding the Cornerstone Foundation (hearing and doing God’s Word- Genesis 2:16-17; Gen3:3) chose to build his house on a sandy foundation (hearing and not doing God’s Word – Genesis 3:6). And his house fell. Great was the fall of it.
RECONSTRUCTION
Seeing the desperate plight of man, God stepped in for reconstruction. Though His own House was established (Isaiah 28:16), He must re-establish the house of man on the True Foundation. Jesus as a man came and heard and did God’s Word (Matthew 4:4—10). In so doing He laid the Cornerstone down, His life for us (Mt. 26:39;John 15:13). And then He began to build His church or house on that foundation (Mt. 16:16-18;1 Peter 2:5-8).
Jesus told this parable after trying to explain the difference between those who are known by Him and those who profess to be known by Him.(Matthew 7) Those who are known by Him will show it by the fruits they bear such as the fruits of the Spirit (Love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience, and obedience to God’s word). But those who only profess to know Him and be known by Him do it with an outward show such as the performance of miracles and preaching. The spiritual storm that is coming will be deceptive. Without the test of obedience to discern truth from error many will be deceived.
THE COMING STORM
The Bible talks about a storm that is coming at the close of time. A spiritual storm. It is referred to in Revelation as the “four winds of the earth”(Revelation 7:1). These are the “powers of the earth” (Revelation 6:8; 13:2; Daniel 7:17). These are not heavenly powers. It will take building on the true foundation to withstand that storm (Matthew 16:16-18;Luke 6:48). This will be a time of trouble such as never was before (Matthew 24:21). It will include a flood of ungodly men and a time of persecution (Psalms 18:4; Matt. 24:9-10). In it will be every wind of doctrine, calamities like hurricanes, floods, famine, pestilence, war, false prophets (Matthew 24:7,24). Will you be prepared? What foundation will you choose? The Rock Jesus Christ or sand. Will you hear His Word and do it and become a Living Stone in His temple? Or will you hear God’s word and not do it, suffering a great fall?
1 Corinthians 3:9For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
11For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
14If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
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The story below about the house that survived Hurricane Michael comes from this link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/hurricane-michael-florida-mexico-beach-house.html
“Among the Ruins of Mexico Beach Stands One House, Built ‘for the Big One’
MEXICO BEACH, Fla.
The elevated house that the owners call the Sand Palace, on 36th Street in Mexico Beach, Fla., came through Hurricane Michael almost unscathed.CreditCreditJohnny Milano for The New York Times
— As they built their dream house last year on the shimmering sands of the Gulf of Mexico, Russell King and his nephew, Dr. Lebron Lackey, painstakingly documented every detail of the elevated construction, from the 40-foot pilings buried into the ground to the types of screws drilled into the walls. They picked gleaming paints from a palette of shore colors, chose salt-tolerant species to plant in the beach dunes and christened their creation the Sand Palace of Mexico Beach.
Dr. Lackey said he and Mr. King, who jointly own the Mexico Beach house, did not even refer to the minimum wind resistance required in Bay County. They built the sand palace to withstand 250 mile-an-hour winds.
The house was fashioned from poured concrete, reinforced by steel cables and rebar, with additional concrete bolstering the corners of the house. The space under the roof was minimized so that wind could not sneak in underneath and lift it off. The home’s elevation, on high pilings, was meant to keep it above the surge of seawater that usually accompanies powerful hurricanes.
“We’re thinking that we need to build a house that would survive for generations,” Dr. Lackey said.
“I believe the planet’s getting warmer and the storms are getting stronger,” said Mr. King, 68, an attorney. “We didn’t used to have storms like this. So people who live on the coast have to be ready for it.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/hurricane-michael-florida-mexico-beach-house.html
Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Isaiah-Chapter-28/
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Luke 6:49
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Luke-Chapter-6/
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.