My dad built houses and church buildings as a contractor. I still remember watching the construction crew reach the bedrock to pour the concrete foundation. In the rocky New Mexico foothills, that was not a deep dig.

For our church and office building in Brazil, it took 176 concrete pilings, each 26 feet long and weighing 3,307 pounds driven into the ground on which concrete encased pilings would support a foundation. That was a deep dig.

In both cases, the most important part of construction was to make sure—without a doubt—the construction sat upon bedrock.

For over 43 years, the American television waves broadcast the soap opera, One Life to Live. I must confess my life formation is limited in an irreparable manner, having never watched an episode.

The truth is I have one life to live on this earth.

That fact is important since it is my one and only opportunity to prepare for life in God’s eternal garden.

The only way I can enter the garden is to build my life on bedrock.

As a believer in God, I am a realist.

I totally believe what Jesus teaches about hell and heaven.

I want nothing to do with hell. Jesus speaks of fire and anguish. It is a place where God is not. I imagine hell as devoid of any good. Were every ounce of good stripped from life, we would call that a living hell. It is living out the childhood ditty, “No one loves me—everybody hates me—I am going to eat worms.” Don’t ask me how I remember that.

However, what draws me to heaven should never be fear. Heaven draws me for positive reasons. God will be there. All will be perfect. No more pain, while enjoying the friendship of Moses, David, Daniel, and all saints of the ages will not be a bad benefit. I look forward to the reunion with my parents, my sons, and the godly friends I knew while on earth.

I can only prepare for heaven through a bedrock life.

Perhaps the most compact account of Jesus’ teachings is in Matthew’s record of Christ’s sermon to a multitude assembled on the side of a hill. His teaching is profound to the extent that I can keep these truths on my radar for a lifetime and never outgrow them.

As Jesus brought to a close these truths, he told the following story:

“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. 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.  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.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Jesus not only teaches how to get to heaven, but he teaches how to live life with the least amount of destruction. I will not escape the storms. By building on bedrock I can escape life’s destruction.

I have one life to live. I am determined not to spend it following the frivolity, the futility, and the foolish lifestyles depicted on soap operas. (I have watched The Days of Our Lives a time or two back in ancient history.)

I have one life to live; and during the days of my life, my aim is to build a bedrock life in all-out commitment to Jesus.

Why don’t you change the channel and go with me.

Stay tuned. – Gary J. Sorrells