Collapsed

On April 24, 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed in Savar, a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh.  The building collapsed during the morning rush-hour and was already filled with many employees of a garment factory housed inside the building.  Search and rescue workers were able to retrieve and assist approximately 2,515 injured people.  Sadly, after almost 3 weeks of searching, the death toll numbered 1,129.

According to sources cited on Wikipedia, “It is considered the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history.”

The tragedy did not occur without warning.  On Tuesday, April 23, 2013 – the day before the collapse – a television station recorded footage showing cracks in the Rana Plaza building and the building was evacuated.  But later in the day, the owner of the building declared that the building was safe and that garment workers should return the next day.

According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, over 3,000 workers were in the building when at 8:57 AM, it was as if “an earthquake had struck,” according to a local resident, and the building collapsed.

Reasons for the collapse have been listed as: (1) The building was built on swampy ground, (2) it was converted from commercial use to industrial use, (3) additional stories had been built without authorization, and (4) the use of substandard construction material led to an overload of the building structure aggravated by vibrations due to the generators used in manufacturing.

But as Neal Pollard observes, “There is an INFINITELY GREATER problem invisible to the naked eye.  Billions of people are building their lives upon a foundation guaranteed to fail.  They have either never come to Jesus, or even more tragically they have heard Him and ignored His appeals and warnings for safety.” *

Listen to Jesus:

“Therefore whoever HEARS these sayings of Mine, and DOES them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who HEARS these sayings of Mine, and does NOT do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." – Matthew 7:24-27

The solid Rock that is the ONLY Foundation that can withstand the storms of life is Jesus Himself.  “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).  Jesus, the Son of God, is the One who gave His life for us so that we might have forgiveness of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7).

In order to have Jesus as our foundation, we must place our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, we must continue to walk in the light of His Word so that His blood can continue to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7).

“On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.”
-- Edward Mote

Won’t YOU take your place upon the solid Rock of Jesus by trusting and obeying Him today?