Storm Proofing Your Home

I was listening to one of the morning news programs following Hurricane Andrew's coming a shore in south Florida with great destructive force. Although Andrew blew down a complete block of homes, twenty-seven adjacent homes built by the non-profit organization, Habitat for Humanity, survived almost undamaged.

Habitat for Humanity is an organization formed by President Jimmy Carter in his retirement. Volunteers work with the future owner to build a home at a cost greatly below retail market. The house is then paid for by the owner with his/her having accrued a "sweat equity" of the amount between the actual cost and the appraised value.

A coordinator for the volunteers said: "We built them right!" Habitat's wood frame houses lost a few shingles and windows but that was about all of the damage. They were build to conform to hurricane building codes. Habitat uses nails instead of staples and while Florida builders aren't required to bolt frames to foundations, Habitat does.

Jesus said something about using hurricane building codes in Luke 6:46-49. What he said was, "If you want to build a home that can withstand the storms of life, listen to my words and then put them into action."

Each Sunday Jesus words can be heard in churches all over the world. If you want to storm-proof your home, go hear those words and then leave determined to do them. Most homes can stand if they are not tested by a storms, but few homes, if any, rest in the sunshine forever. You need to "storm-proof" your home before the storm hits. Once the storm hits, it is usually too late to do much to save the house.