Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:47-49) (01/18/24)
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TITLE: Rock or Sand | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gloria Pierre Dean
01/24/24 -
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Mikala and Joycelyn were friends but did not mix outside of school.
Their home lifestyles were very different. Mikala’s family were musicians while Joycelyn’s were in medicine.
By the time they had graduated and gone to college, they were no longer close, but they occasionally met for a coffee when they were both in town.
“So, what are you planning to do, Miki?” asked Joycelyn.
“ I'm going to get into modeling,” she said with alacrity.
“And what about you, Joycee?” she continued using their girly names.
“I'm thinking of studying medicine. My dad is encouraging me in that direction,” said Joycelyn with a smile.
Privately, Joycelyn was praying about what she should do and and for her friend too..
A recent sermon on Moody radio challenged her life thinking even more.
The preacher’s question was; “How many of us live in this world, read The Word but do not follow it!? Instead, you read novels, watch immoral movies, spend time on your cell phones but give little time to following Christ, loving your neighbors, and yet you expect good things. To hear and not obey is to choose the wrong way” he added.
As the words of Jesus said;
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” {Matthew 7:24}, he added.
Mikala continued with her plans. By the time she was in twenty five, she was a well-known fashion model and as Joycleyn noticed, her clothing style was becoming less modest.
Joycelyn’s life was not perfect, but she did become a doctor and was challenged by the complete dedication required. It did not leave much time for her social life and for going to church regularly. Still, she made time for reading the Word and praying.
One day, in a conversation with her father, she said
“Dad, Jesus instructs us to build our houses on Him, The Rock. I can see that the alternative is foolish and unsafe. The house is our lives, of course. So if we build it on foolish erroneous things, when life’s challenges come, and they will come against your ‘house’, which is your life, your faith, your family, and your values; your house will collapse”.
“ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” {Matthew 7:25}.
Joycelyn continued “ I have a friend who, it seems to me, is building her house on Sand, and I need you to pray for her, please. She is a model and is almost nude in magazines…”
I want to pray that she will hear The Word and follow Christ, instead of following fame and fashion. Her thoughts were based on the thought that The Sand foundation of Mikala’s life was loose and moved when challenged by worldly forces; just like the sand of the sea which is moved by forces like water and the tides of the sea.
As Jesus said, “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. {Matthe 7:26}.
Years later, as women in their late thirties, Mikala and Joycelyn remain friends on Facebook. They live in different states and joyfully, Mikala’s lifestyle has changed.
She gave up her lifestyle when she met and fell in love with a loving Christian man.
She became a Christian and later started a ministry to youths in her church about making the right choices. She named it ’Rock or Sand’, and even wrote a book, by the same name, about what she learned from her old lifestyle, and how God and good Jesus-loving friends helped her.
So, Joycelyn and her dad’s prayers were answered.
Yes, “Prayer changes things!”
{Romans 8:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 }
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