• Upon A Fault Line

    by  •  • LifeStuff • 0 Comments

    You drew the plan
    and chose the lot
    and leveled the earth
    and tore out the trees
    and laid the slab
    and placed the pipes
    and raised the walls
    and spaced the windows
    and mulled the materials
    and set the roof
    and attached the shingles
    and picked each door
    and painted each room
    and tiled, carpeted, and rugged
    each floor
    to your exacting
    specifications.

    “It’s just what I always wanted”, you said.

    You were meticulous
    and creative and thrifty
    erecting a fine structure,
    your well-concepted
    and carefully crafted
    place to call home.

    It didn’t matter
    that you built on a fault line-
    because everything looked so stable,
    as it had for so many years,
    even though you were told
    “You are building in a dangerous location,
    unstable and seismic,
    an earthquake area
    and there is activity in the zone.”

    There has been nothing
    that felt active here
    for years.

    “You are building in a dangerous location,
    and there is activity in the zone”, they said.

    And then it happened.

    It’s too bad you ignored the advice,
    and certainly someone out there is at fault.
    The wood was too weak, too old, too brittle.
    The nails were soft and splintered in the shaking.
    The eaves were flawed and pitched under pressure.
    The concrete cracked and snapped like a chocolate bar.

    “I lost everything. I lost everything.
    Every beautiful thing I had
    was bundled up inside this building!
    There must be justice!
    Somebody out there must be
    responsible for this!
    I certainly deserve compensation!
    Somebody out there must compensate me!
    You owe me, neighbor, vendor, builder,
    toolmaker, corporation, city,
    county, country, cosmos!
    I lost everything.”

    Don’t be surprised that that would happen
    if you ignore educated advice
    and build your life
    and your dream castle
    and your exquisite existence
    in an earthquake zone,
    if you build your house
    upon a fault line.

    About

    A web programmer by day, I somehow still spend a lot of time thinking about relationships, God, and the significance of grace and love in daily events. I am old school in the sense that I believe in the reality of sin, and in the need of each human heart for deliverance to the Divine. I am one of those who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that you can find most answers to life's pressing issues in Him and His Word, the Bible. I ain't perfect, and a lot of the time I ain't good, but by God's grace and kindness, I am forgiven and free.

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