Withstand pressure

     Next week we should close on 2 houses so I was trying to get a few of those jobs that I had on the back burner done this week.

       We purchased a house about this time a year ago. It had a new basement put under it several years back. There is a large maple tree in the neighbors yard putting pressure on one area of the wall.

     So even though I did not want to do it, I went and rented a jack hammer from Eric. ( I use the term loosely when I say rented because when I brought it back he said I had not used it long enough to charge for it. Thanks Eric)

     I had a hole in the basement floor rather quickly. Then I had to dig clay out of the hole to put the I beam in as deep as I wanted it. That actually took a little longer. Break the clay loos and then take it out by hand.

     I dropped the I Beam in the hole and then mixed up some concrete to fill the hole back in around the I Beam. Attached the beam to the frame of the house and walked away. It should hold the wall from being pushed in any further. All of that because the neighbor's tree roots are pushing against the wall.

     We came to an agreement Monday with a bank on the value of a house they had foreclosed on. We thought the house was worth  75% of what they were asking. After trying to sell it for 4 months they gave up and agreed to our price. I had made it clear to them that I was going to pull our offer if they didn't accept it by this Monday. 

     The basement of this house has an interesting architectural design. Those stepped up blocks are there for a reason and it is not just to be annoying. They were built into the basement walls to keep them from buckling in. Although they are a pain, they have value. They are putting pressure on the wall to keep it in place. If the house I put the steel beam in this week had been built the same way the tree roots would not be pushing in the wall.

    We all have pressures in our lives. We all have something tempting us to buckle just a little. Sometimes we have something pressuring and tempting us to buckle a lot. What will you do when the temptations come? How will you hold up? Will you give way just a little. It really isn't hurting anyone is it? Just a little sin, a little pressure from those around me. Problem is it starts to make our foundations give way a little. Soon we have nothing left to stand on just like a house where the foundation has given way..

     We might even be able to convince ourselves it is not really wrong. Did God really say we shouldn't do that? Wow, there is a phrase that goes way back to the first humans. Temptations come to all of us. Are you prepared for when they come.

     Do you have supports built into your life? Matthew 7:24 Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house: yet it did not fall, because it had it's foundation on the rock. 26 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. 27 The rains came down the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

    Jesus doesn't say if the rains come and the winds blow, He says the rains came, the winds blew. Temptations and doubt will come into your life. What does your foundation look like?