This morning on the drive in I was listening to a sermon on the radio that was talking about apostasy. One of the points that was made was about the parable of the men who built their houses on the rock and the sand. Both men heard the truth, wanted to build, bought materials, and built houses. The problem was the substrate that they chose to build on. One built on the Rock and the other built on sand. It is only on the rock that we stand firm in the winds of changing doctrine and the floods of adversity. Only in Christ do we stand to face the ridicule and persecution around us. He is the one who enables us to stand at all, by ourselves we fall. Sometimes we do fall to pressure and temptation, but if we have our original building on the Rock, we have the ability to get back up again and rebuild stronger than before.
The second was when my mind was wondering a bit in between programs. I was thinking of the fact that Jesus is both the Rock of our lives as well as the Vine. And then a got a picture of a tree coming our of a rock with no soil around it. To think that the strongest foundation for our lives is also the source of our nourishment. I mean think about it, we bear fruit not from nutrients in the soil, which is broken down bits of rock over time, but directly from the Rock. I just thought that was really neat. Christ is the life source into which we are grafted to become a new creation and then can bear His fruit directly from the nutrients in the rock of life.
And then the next program came on. I have been listening to Revive Our Hearts in the morning with Nancy Leigh DeMoss and she just finished up a 26 day study on Proverbs 31. I think I’m going to get the whole series entitled “Counter-Cultural Woman” when I quit being poor ( ) so that I can listen to the rest of the series. This morning she was talking about how we are called to pass the baton of our faith on to the next generation. As women, we especially need to live and speak and walk everyday with Christ because “our children” (whether we have biological kids or not) look to us for comfort in this world.
Women are natural teachers and comforters and nurturers no matter what the current theories about egalitarianism say. We have a strength and if we do not use it to further the kingdom of God then we will be held accountable. I’m not saying that women shouldn’t have careers or that they cannot find fulfillment in those chosen professions, I’m just saying that there’s more to life and our mission than making money and making life comfortable for our children.
You can be rich, have a good career, give your kids their every desire and still have them leave ‘the faith of their fathers’ (parents). Likewise, you can be poor, depending on God to provide for your every need, and watch God bring your family closer to Him and each other through his love, grace and provision. There are middle grounds and lots of combinations in between. But for me and mine, we will trust the Lord for provision and train our children to follow after him in both good and bad times.
May you all have a blessed day.
neumatikos 
There actually is a tree like that on our drive to church. Massachusetts is strewn with huge boulders of various types from the old glaciers. One of those boulders, in one of the parks we pass between Gloucester and Rockport, is about 8 feet tall. Yet there is a healthy tree growing out of the middle of it.
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I actually got to meet and work with Nancy Leigh DeMoss at a School of Evangelism in Chicago back in 2005. Top notch lady with wonderful spiritual insights! Her sessions were always packed.
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