Rebuilding on the Rock

In 1972, Mary Setterholm was the Women's US Surfing Champion. What followed was not the life anyone would have imagined for her. Her marriage fell apart. She was left alone with five children. The storms that came were severe — the kind that strip a life down to nothing and leave you wondering if anything solid remains.

But over time, Mary began to rebuild.

She started a surf school for inner city children — busing kids to the beach, teaching them to ride waves, introducing them to the joy of God's creation. City and county officials called it one of the most effective anti-gang programs they had ever seen. She took the thing she loved most — something that had once been entirely about herself — and turned it into a gift for others.

Mary didn't just rebuild her own life. She rebuilt it on something that held.

I think about my friend Joe, the baseball player, who spent years finding his footing after the thing he had built everything on gave way. Today he walks alongside recovering addicts with a grace and an understanding that only comes from having been there yourself.

These are not stories about people who had it easy or who never lost their way. They are stories about people who, at some point, decided to rebuild — and discovered that the rock was still there, waiting.

Jesus said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock." (Matthew 7:24) It is never too late to hear those words. It is never too late to start building on them.

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for the people who have rebuilt — whose stories remind us that it is never too late to start again. Whatever has crumbled in our own lives, show us the rock that is still there. Give us the courage to build on it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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