Sand Castles.
Have you ever built a sand castle? Or have you at least built a sand pile? I have. Growing up in the Northwest and having grandparents that live in Warrenton (across from Astoria) means I’ve become somewhat of a sand castle pro. . . . . ok ok, not really, but I have built a lot of them. Really though none of my “sand castles” ever really look like sand “castles”. They usually look more like big lumps of sand, with a moat in front, then a wall, then a moat, then a wall, then a moat, and another wall, etc. etc.

Basically when I build a “sand castle” on the beach, it’s a pile of sand, with as many defenses built as possible. It’s one of those endless races you can never win. I work constantly to build deeper trenches and more walls to defend my castle. That really is my purpose, to keep the ocean from hitting my “castle”. The problem is that I never build far enough back, because I don’t really want to.  It’s easier to build at the edge and watch the walls get destroyed. I love trying to race the waves, building the walls higher and stronger till the next wave hits.

So I was recently at the beach doing this and I noticed something. Any small crack, can take out almost a whole wall. It made me think of our defenses as Christians. So often I will hear Christians talking about being desensitized. We let one little thing in and soon we let everything in, violence, sex, drugs, stealing, murder, everything. We start thinking it’s ok, whether we watch it, or do it doesn’t matter.

God says
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

(Phillippians 4:8)

I don’t see anything about  violence, sex, drugs, stealing, murder and everything else sinful.  So we shouldn’t even have them at all. Right?

So what I noticed was that a small crack or hole would break a whole wall. I noticed this and then tested it. I started with an entire wall, and watched the wave crash over it. Overall it stood firm, even after a few waves, and when I slowly built up on it evenly it continued to stay strong.

Next I put a tiny hole in the bottom of part of the wall. The hole was about the size of my little finger. I watched a wave come in crash over the wall, flow out to see, nothing. Then 1. . 2. . 3. . 4. . KAZAM, the wall collapsed into the hole. It wasn’t as the wave hit it, it was later. Then a the next wave came in, and the weak part disappeared creating a gaping hole. And as I watched, slowly the wall disappeared.

Well what about me? I thought. What about my defenses? Am I repairing any cracks and holes? Do I have cracks and holes? Am I letting to many violent video games create a hole? Or maybe I’m watching movies with inappropriate content. I began to examine my life and I did see holes. I saw that I was letting my defenses slowly get washed away.

What about you? Do you have holes or cracks? Is your wall breaking up and flowing into the ocean? What are you letting into your life that shouldn’t be there? Or more importantly what are we doing to rebuild our holes and cracks? How are we repairing our vulnerable spots? How is your sand castle holding up? I know mine could use some work, what about yours?