The House on Briar Creek Lane

In 2019, a young couple in Houston fell in love with a house on Briar Creek Lane. Fresh paint, gorgeous hardwood floors, a kitchen that belonged in a magazine. They made an offer that afternoon. Their home inspector, a grizzled veteran named Ray Castillo, urged them to slow down. He pointed to hairline cracks running along the baseboards, a slight slope in the hallway floor. "This house has foundation trouble," Ray told them. "Everything you see up top is cosmetic. Underneath, it's shifting."

They bought it anyway. The floors were just too beautiful.

Eighteen months later, doors wouldn't close. Windows cracked. A plumber discovered the main sewer line had separated because the concrete slab had split nearly two feet. The repairs cost more than the renovation that had dazzled them in the first place.

Jesus tells us in Luke 6 that everyone who hears His words and puts them into practice is like a builder who digs down deep and lays a foundation on rock. When the floods come, that house stands firm. But the one who hears and does nothing builds on the surface — on the ground without a foundation. It looks fine until the storm arrives.

The Almighty isn't interested in how polished our lives appear on Sunday morning. He's asking what we've built underneath — whether His words have shaped the hidden structure of our character, or whether we've just been decorating the surface.