Most of us learned this parable as children, either through classes or through songs, because this is a profound truth so simply and elegantly described in this analogy. There is nothing unique to the topography of Palestine that we need to know to understand flash floods, and even playing with blocks teaches us the importance of a good foundation. We don't have to understand building codes, plumbing, wiring, or roof framing to recognize the foolishness of the second man in the story and the essential preparations the first man made.

However, there is a point in this story we will overlook if we take this analogy too literally. I know it is improbable that my current residence will flood. I have reviewed the "100 year" flood maps for my area and I've even made note of the roads that are more likely to flood should we experience a severe downpour from a tropical storm. I am fortunate that a flood for me is a unlikely occurrence.

This is not the scene that Jesus described in this parable. In this brief tale, flooding was a certainty for both the home builders, and we can even infer their home sites were on the banks of a stream that had a history of flash floods. No home insurer would have written a policy on these dwellings because of this imminent threat. The second man could not justify his actions as taking a calculated risk—this was simply foolishness.

We must hear and understand this warning in our lives. We cannot pretend that the floods of life will miss us, that everything in life will always go our way, or even that our faith will protect us from the floods. The realization is that our faith will be tested by difficulties, crises, and pain just as certainly as the streams coming off the mountains flooded every year as the winter snow melted. I don't like accepting that reality in my life. We all know many people whose faith has shattered when the floods came, because they had expected God to exempt them from the storms.

But we know, too, that the trials in life are an opportunity to strengthen our faith by making us more dependent on following God's guidance. We also know saints whose walk with God became so much stronger when they were humbled in their crisis experiences, and they bear witness to how God took the horrible circumstances and created something beautiful from them. The analogy of a house's foundation doesn't account for how God builds and strengthens our faith as we follow more closely and obediently, and how God develops and grows that foundation in those very floods the foundation allows us to endure.

Life is hard, and the scriptures do not hide the fact that even the most righteous of us will face frustrations, difficulties, threats, and even devastation. But the scriptures tell us that God is our only hope and our best hope in every trouble that we will face. God's Love is not only sufficient for our greatest flood, God will reward our faith with blessings beyond our comprehension.