by George Jarvis, Airedale Church

I GUESS that many of us were proud to be British as, during the recent Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Team GB won medal after medal.

Very surprisingly they finished second in the medal table, and many of our athletes exceeded expectations.

Their great achievements gave a lift to the whole nation. Such a 'lift' feels good but we cannot really live our lives with injections of what I call 'event adrenaline', with the remainder of our life waiting for what can next go wrong.

We all want security. We want to feel at peace and able to ride the challenges that life inevitably brings.

We read in the Bible a story Jesus told of two men who each built a house. One built on sand, the other build on rock. When storms came, the house on the rock stood firm but that on the sand fell. Jesus wasn't talking about physical buildings. He was talking about the foundation upon which we build our lives. He said the man whose life had a firm foundation heard the words of Jesus and put them into practice. The one with no foundation whose life was a roller coaster, depending on the circumstances, was the man who paid no attention to the words of Jesus.

Jesus doesn't promise a good job, or good career etc but he does promise inner peace. He does promise inner rest. He does promise hope. And he gives us deep, deep love.

When the storms hit our lives, it is such peace, rest, hope and love that gets us through.

Can I suggest that you read the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John in the New Testament of the Bible?