Keeping the Story Straight

         I was reading the Bible to the boys at bedtime and we came upon on of my favorite stories, the story of the wise man building his house upon the rock. It’s been a favorite all my life and I was so pleased to read this thousands year old story to my children and in hopes that they favor it as well. The boys both ask many questions while I’m reading and I try to explain that if they keep talking through the story that we will never get anything read but still, the questions come. As I was reading that the wise man built his house upon the rock and that no storm could harm his home and therefore he was safe as we are safe who build our lives on Christ and that the foolish man built his house upon the sand that is neither strong nor constant nor safe and his home was vulnerable to storm and strong wind as the man who doesn’t put his trust in the Lord is not protected either. The boys understood what I was telling them and got that there was a metaphor for life and wisdom in that little story of architecture and location, location, location. However, there was something that was a little confusing to them. What happened to the man that built his house of straw? I’m a little stumped because in the version that I grew up with there was not another man in the story, there was no other neighbor building in the area and then it dawned on me. They had gotten the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ confused with this story of the building of a sturdy home and the flimsy home and of the huffing and the puffing that was such a dominant theme of tonight’s discussion. All I had the heart to say was that I didn’t think that there was another man in this story but that it would’ve been just as good a story if this other contender had been mentioned. This seemed to satisfy so we moved along.