Neal Beidleman survived the ill-fated 1996 expedition in which eight climbers died on Mount Everest. Some of them had paid $65,000 for a chance to scale the world's highest peak. In assessing what went wrong, Beidleman said, "Tragedies and disasters . . . are not the result of a single decision, a single event, or a single mistake. They are the culmination of things in your life. Something happens and it becomes a catalyst for all the things you've had at risk."

On Everest, that "something" was a raging blizzard. According to journalist Todd Burgess, "If not for the storm, the climbers may have gotten away with taking so many risks. But the storm exposed their weaknesses."

The things at risk in our lives today—matters of spiritual indifference or disobedience—can overwhelm us when the storms come. Jesus told a story of the wise and foolish builders to stress the importance of obedience to His words (Matthew 7:24-27). He said, "Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (v.24).

Obedience to Christ doesn't eliminate the tempests of life, but it does determine whether we fall or stand in the storm.  — David C. McCasland