A Telephone Pole in the Kitchen

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. (Matthew 7:24-27 NASB)

Piotr Kardys had a problem when he built his house - a telephone pole where he wanted his kitchen. No problem to Piotr, he just built his house around the telephone pole. However, now he wants the pole removed which he says was placed on his property without permission in 2001. It now appears that the telephone company (TPSA) will have to somehow remove the pole. A Spokeswoman for the company said the company would appeal a court ruling ordering the pole removed saying, "We have to have a binding decision -- we could do it on our own, but you have to realize this is a big investment."

You have to wonder about someone that would intentionally build their house around a telephone pole! You have to wonder even more about the structural damage that may be caused if the pole is actually removed from Piotr's kitchen.

We can laugh about someone building a house with a telephone pole in the kitchen. We can even laugh about someone building a house on sand. However, when we begin to compare the living of our lives to the building of a house it may not be quite as hilarious.

Jesus says that we will build the house of our life on a solid foundation if we live as He says to live in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus touches upon a broad range of subjects beginning with the Beatitudes and continuing with His teachings on the Ten Commandments, anger, adultery, divorce, oaths, enemies, giving, prayer, fasting, proper perspective on material things, judging others, the golden rule, the strait gate, false prophets, and much more. The Two Foundations of rock and sand summarize all of the teaching.

If we want to build a house (life) with a telephone in the kitchen that may someday have to be removed destroying the house (life) than ignore the Sermon on the Mount at your peril. If, however, we want to build a life that will withstand the worst the world can throw at us than we should seek to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus.

So what do you do if you've built a life with a telephone pole in the kitchen? Begin now to follow the Lord Jesus and you will find that the telephone pole will begin to shrink.