The year, I believe, was 1996 and the hugely popular Promise Keepers men's rallies were going from stadium to stadium across the U.S. Promise Keepers made a stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, about a 45 minute drive from where I lived in Missouri. So my dad, my Granda Ray, my Papa and other men went.
I only went to one of the two days of the rally due to having a little league game on same day as day two, but I'll never forget a few parts of that one day. We went to the stadium full of tens of thousands of men. I was surrounded by the men in my life and so many other men. I was taken back by the number of guys both young and old filling this stadium for something other than a Chief's game. I'll be honest, I don't remember who the speakers were. I don't remember much from the speakers other than learning what a man't loins were from one of them (he was an African-American preacher who repeated the phrase "from your waist to your thighs several times while I assume talking about sexual purity). I don't remember much but I do remember the chorus of a song.
I remember the bass rumble as a stadium built for 74,000 was filled with men singing. You can imagine the vibrations in my chest as my dad and grandpas and tens of thousands of other men sang, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."
I'll never forget that moment and that promise that my dad and grandpas sang that day. I'm reading the Bible through in a year and as I was in Joshua today I read this:
"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15
That was my Old Testament reading. Then I read in Luke chapter 6 Jesus' story about the man who built his house on the rock. The flood came, the torrent struck the house but could not shake it. But another built a house without a foundation and the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them to practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well build." Luke 6:46-48
The storms of life will most definitely come. I would love to prevent the floods of life from hitting my son, the torrents of life from striking my marriage and the rainy days from my family, but that isn't going to be accomplishable. Instead, I will build my household on a firm foundation. I will build my life and establish my family on the Rock, the Stone that was rejected but that has become the Cornerstone. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord today.
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