Researchers at the Institute for Business and Home Safety in Richburg, South Carolina, built two identical 1,300-square-foot houses inside a $40 million laboratory. They wanted to see how these homes would hold up against a hurricane. The first house was constructed to standard building codes—nothing fancy, just the usual. The second house, though, had reinforcement straps connecting every level—from the foundation all the way to the roof. Then they flipped on the giant fans, blasting winds up to 110 miles per hour, the strength of a Category 3 hurricane. In the first two tests, lasting less than ten minutes, both houses stood firm. However, in the third test, when the winds roared for over ten minutes, the conventional house began to tremble. Before long, it collapsed into a heap. The reinforced house? It took some cosmetic scratches, but it stood tall. Tim Reingold, an engineer on the project, boiled it down to one question: " Which house would you rather be living in? " Here's what's interesting. As Jesus wraps up his sermon on the mount, he makes a similar analogy, but instead of just building a house, he wants his listeners to think about what foundation they are building their lives upon. Why does Jesus conclude his sermon in this way? It matters, because according to Jesus--storms are coming! To learn more about what Jesus teaches about how to prepare for the storms of life, check out the conclusion of our series on The Sermon on the Mount.
