The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash (Matthew 7:27).

College was understandably a time of academic intensity. I felt like what I was doing was
too demanding and worthwhile to not give it all I had. I didn’t get straight A’s, but I was proud of my efforts. I felt like I really knew how to be a solid student, keeping up with the revolving door of homework and surprisingly able to retain what I’ve learned.

The hardcore focus resulted in skipped meals, little sleep, no exercise, and few
extracurriculars. Now in graduate school, I’m trying to cultivate a more balanced lifestyle.
Adjusting my habits forced me to think about why I do what I do – why I give so much effort to one or two things at a time and how I choose what those things are.

I discovered a desire to work for the sake of looking good for others. Sound familiar? I
wasn’t confident that I had a hire-worthy resume. So, a piece of me was dedicated to bulking up my applications. It felt right at the time. I mean, you don’t get asked, “when was your last meal?” in a job interview. In retrospect, it was as if I was trying to establish myself on a bulleted list of intelligent sounding one-liners.

It seemed like my foundation was what people would examine when considering me for
some position. The truth is this is impossible for people to do. The foundation lies underneath, unseen by the world. Just as the foolish builder discovered, the ground we build upon determines the performance of the house above, regardless of how sound the structure.

It isn’t so surprising that I grew more curious about Jesus during the second half of
college. I grew up going to church and knew some scripture but around this time I started to wonder what life with Him was really like. Maybe deep down I knew I had a weak foundation and was searching for something solid, something real.

There is only one who sees our foundation. Jesus knows what we establish ourselves on.
A wonderful thing about letting Him into our lives is His willingness to be the foundation,
allowing us to lean on and be rooted in Him instead of whatever we try to find for ourselves. Jesus is our true solid rock. Would you be willing to build on Him?

Do the opinions of others influence your intentions? Consider asking God to reveal if
something like this exists in your life. If there is, follow up with a prayer for guidance to replace the “sinking sand” with the solid rock of Christ.