As I come to the final and concluding chapter of the long and excellent discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, I came to deepest realization of what I have been. There are times when I looked back and felt like time has gone by so quickly and I had not done enough; I have gotten caught up in the storm. I see that God is trying to reveal a piece of epic to me. Sometimes God sends me signs and I just cannot see them. And always will be, I would find myself awakened in the dawn and to find myself and my house covered in a thick layer of dust. Dust that accumulates with time gathered in thick because I refused to take heed of it and sweep them away. So I saw my own insignificants in this act in nature. I saw how fragile and brittle we are as mortals.

"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.” – Matthew 7:24-25 (The Message)

"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards." – Matthew 7:26-27 (The Message)

Two sorts of hearers are here represented in their true characters, and the state of their case, under the comparison of two builders; one was wise, and built upon a rock, and his building stood in a storm; the other foolish, and built upon the sand, and his building fell.

We have every one of us a house to build. It is our life. And in it includes our thoughts and affections, our words and actions, the temper of our minds, and the tenor of our lives. That house, our life, is our hope for heaven. It ought to be our chief and constant care, to make our calling and election sure. Many people never mind this: it is the furthest thing from their thoughts; they are building for this world, as if they were going to here always, but take no care to build for another world. There are many who profess that they hope to go to heaven, but despise this Rock, and build their hopes upon the sand; which is done without many pains, but it is their folly. Every thing besides Christ is sand. Some build their hopes upon their worldly prosperity, as if they were a sure token of God's favor. Others upon their external profession of religion, the privileges they enjoy, and the performances they go through in that profession, and the reputation they have got by it. They are called Christians, were baptized, go to church, hear Christ's word, say their prayers, and do nobody any harm, and, if they perish, God help a great many! This is the light of their own fire, which they walk in; this is that, upon which, with a great deal of assurance, they venture; but it is all sand, too weak to bear such a fabric as our hopes of heaven.

Rain, and floods, and wind, will beat upon the house. One day, these will undoubtedly come. Not once but many times over. Then it will be seen, who only heard the word, and who heard and practiced it; then when we have occasion to use our hopes, it will be tried whether they were right, and well-grounded, or not.

Those whose hopes which are built upon Christ the Rock will stand, and will stand the builder in stead when the storm comes; they will be his preservation, both from desertion, and from prevailing disquiet. His profession will not wither; his comforts will not fail; they will be his strength and song, as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. When he comes to the last encounter, those hopes will take off the terror of death and the grave; will carry him cheerfully through that dark valley; will be approved by the Judge; will stand the test of the great day; and will be crowned with endless glory.

That those hopes which foolish builders ground upon any thing but Christ, will certainly fail them on a stormy day; will yield them no true comfort and satisfaction in trouble, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment; will be no fence against temptations to apostasy, in a time of persecution. When God takes away the soul, where is the hope of the hypocrite? —Job 27:8. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand. – Job 8:15. It fell in the storm, when the builder had most need of it, and expected it would be a shelter to him. It fell when it was too late to build another: when a wicked man dies, his expectation perishes; then, when he thought it would have been turned into fruition, it fell, and great was the fall of it. It was a great disappointment to the builder; the shame and loss were great. The higher men's hopes have been raised, the lower they fall. It is the sorest ruin of all that attends formal professors; oh witness Capernaum's doom!

I used to think that this scripture only referred to a person who was becoming a Christian, but as I read it recently, now I think it can also apply to a Christian builder. We never quite stop building and at any point in the construction process we can mess the entire thing up or at least I know I can. I know that to continue to build on solid rock means that I have to continue to look forward and follow the blue prints and than I will make it through the storms.

A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains 
And should I stumble again
I'm caught in Your grace

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

 Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

 In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

 Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

I'm here again
A thousand miles away from you
A broken mess, just scattered pieces of who I am
I tried so hard
Thought I could do this on my own
I've lost so much along the way

Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before

You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole

I've come undone
But you make sense of who I am
Like puzzle pieces in your eye

Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before

You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole!
I tried so hard! So hard!
I tried so hard!

Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before

You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
So you can make me whole