A Different Way to Live: Introduction

In a famous scene from the film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, a birthday toast is given to a young man turning sixteen, “Life is a storm my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm, and shout as you did in Rome, ‘Do your worst, for I shall do mine!’”

If only it was as easy as a predetermined commitment, a simple declaration uttered at an opportune moment, that we will “weather the storms of life.” It isn’t a simple utterance, but we can prepare ourselves for the storms that will come. By building our lives on a solid foundation, the winds and rains that inevitably come will not shake the walls of our lives. Perhaps we should not shout that we will do our best, but we can stand, even in the worst of storms.