Safe At Home?

It was like a scene from a horror film: A 32-year-old man plummeted three meters 
into a gaping hole that suddenly opened beneath his home, trapping him beneath foundation rubble and killing him.

Authorities said Jason Chellew was relaxing in his living room around 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, when he heard creaking noises, sprang up and began to move across the room just as the floor opened beneath him sending him plunging into the ground, authorities said.

According to authorities, the home, built in the 1980s, may have been sitting atop a decades-old underground mine.  The area, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, was heavily mined for gold in the late 1800s.  A mine collapse is one likely cause of the strange episode, officials said.  Recent rains possibly softened the ground under the home which is located in an isolated area near Lake Alta , California .

"It's unbelievable," Placer County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Dena Erwin said.  "From the front of the house, it's absolutely normal. Then, in the middle of the house, is this enormous hole." 

"You hate to lose anybody like that," said Carol Gillies, clerk of the Alta Fire District. "This whole area is undermined with mines. It makes you think about, 'Where did I build my house?' " *

Good question!  An even more important question is: “Upon what foundation am I building my LIFE?”  Jesus stated a truth that has been validated by experience that the foundations of our lives WILL be tested (Matthew 7:24-27).  

He also informed us that there are basically only TWO foundations upon which we can build our lives:

Foundation #1 - “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."

Foundation #2 - “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).

Jesus taught that THE foundation that will remain sure and steadfast through time and eternity is based upon HEARING -AND- DOING the will of God!

Build YOUR life on the Rock: placing y our faith in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), repenting of sin (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confessing Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), being baptized (immersed) in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), and following Him faithfully for the rest of your life (1 John 1:7).

Upon which foundation are YOU building your life: upon the sinking sand or upon the Rock that forever shall stand?

God bless you!

David A. Sargent, Minister 

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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