The Wise Man and The Fool
A few years ago my wife and I decided we wanted to try to get our kids to all 50 states before they graduate high school. We realized this was a lofty goal but we felt it was worth trying for. In order to lengthen our vacations we purchased a large tent and have been embarking on summer road trips to various national parks and sites across the country. We found that by staying in campgrounds we are able to extend our vacations since it is so much cheaper than staying in hotels. We also like the idea of the memories that will be forged by vacationing in this manner.
This week we were experiencing the wonders of Arches National Park in Moab Utah. We arrived later in the day and set up our tent in the dark. Luckily our campsite was mostly soft powdery sand so the stakes went in easily and the tent was up quickly. The sand under the tent was so wonderfully soft we hardly needed any sort of air mattress.
My wife's niece and her husband camped one site over and unfortunately their site was much rockier and their stakes were very difficult to drive in.
The next day as we were admiring the various arches of the park a strong monsoon rolled in. Upon returning to our campsite we found our tent flat on the ground with two broken poles and everything inside soaked. The stakes had given way in the wind which put too much pressure on the tent poles. Our friends one site over were fine as their stakes held in the solid ground. (not to mention they had a sturdier tent)
Thankfully we have some friends who live a few hours away and we were able to go to their house to dry our things and repair the tent. After all of this my oldest son made the observation that our situation was like the story Jesus told in the Bible of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the fool who built his house on the sand. When the storm came the wise man's house was left standing.
As a father it has always been a dream of mine that my children would one day see in me the strong characteristics of a Biblical man. I just never envisioned it being the fool.
This week we were experiencing the wonders of Arches National Park in Moab Utah. We arrived later in the day and set up our tent in the dark. Luckily our campsite was mostly soft powdery sand so the stakes went in easily and the tent was up quickly. The sand under the tent was so wonderfully soft we hardly needed any sort of air mattress.
My wife's niece and her husband camped one site over and unfortunately their site was much rockier and their stakes were very difficult to drive in.
The next day as we were admiring the various arches of the park a strong monsoon rolled in. Upon returning to our campsite we found our tent flat on the ground with two broken poles and everything inside soaked. The stakes had given way in the wind which put too much pressure on the tent poles. Our friends one site over were fine as their stakes held in the solid ground. (not to mention they had a sturdier tent)
Thankfully we have some friends who live a few hours away and we were able to go to their house to dry our things and repair the tent. After all of this my oldest son made the observation that our situation was like the story Jesus told in the Bible of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the fool who built his house on the sand. When the storm came the wise man's house was left standing.
As a father it has always been a dream of mine that my children would one day see in me the strong characteristics of a Biblical man. I just never envisioned it being the fool.
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