In July of 1977, I went with my home church on a mission trip. We went to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. I was fresh out of high school and anticipating a good week teaching Native American children about Jesus Christ. It was a hot week and a great deal of effort went into it.

On Friday we finished the week by going to the small village of Birney, Montana on the Tongue River. We went down there and taught some of the really poorer children on the reservation. At the end of the time together, we decided we'd go down to the river and go swimming. It was a hot day so we all went down -- the kids and us. We went into the river. It was about waist deep. We were swimming and playing there together.

I said to my friend Donnie, "Why don't we float down the river a bit." I was a bit of a water rat as a kid. He said, "No, I don't think so. Let's don't." After a few minutes, He said, "Yeah, let's go!" And so, we started floating down. We were having a blast. I was out a little bit in front of him and all of a sudden I heard him scream my name. And I turned around and I saw him sucked under the water. It was the kind of day that an 18 year old would never expect -- would never see coming. It was the kind of day that placed on me demands that were beyond any strength I could have. It raised questions about what I could handle.

The text says this: "About Asher he said, 'Most blessed of sons is Asher. Let him be favored by his brothers. And let him bathe his feet in oil. The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze and your strength will equal your days.'" Sometimes I think the reason days like that shake us so hard is because we really haven't heard the Bible message.

I was preparing this message yesterday and a man pulled into the driveway. His name is Jim Hunter. He knocked on the door. He's not a member of my church but we visit together sometimes. He's just recovering from a surgery on an aneurism that very nearly took his life. We were sharing together. Most of his present problems might be a result of grief. In the last couple of years, he lost a teenage daughter to a tragic shooting accident. He told me something he had never told me before. He said, "The church lied to me. The church gave me the understanding that if I gave Jesus my heart and if I was faithful, if I did whatever He wanted me to do, then bad things wouldn't happen to me. Everything would be okay."

I had the understanding that being faithful, leaving home to go tell Indian children about Jesus -- bad things would never happen! And yet, the text doesn't say that. It doesn't comment on the kind of days we have; rather, it tells us about the strength to meet the challenge of such days. Do you remember how Jesus closed the sermon on the mount? Do you remember the story? You sang it when you were a little child. Jesus closed by telling about two men: two men who built two homes on two very different foundations. The one man built the house on the rock and the other the house on the sand. Then the storms came and one house fell.