Building Your House on the Sand

Look what this guy built with sand, water and a pairing knife!  I have built a sand castle or two in my day but this art is over the top!

Port Aransas, TX is one of the few places where you can still drive your car on the beach. Grady and I took a ferry to the island and had not gone far when we saw this guy creating works of art. This is all he has done every day for the past year. He has a little tin can set up so you can contribute in appreciation.

He was more than happy to engage in conversation and explained to us that he uses moist sand to conform it to the shape of the mold and then he uses a paring knife to add the fine detail. You can see here that he is building a house - well, a castle.

Who Would Build a House on Sand?

What amazed me most is that, as you can see, the sky is overcast and there is a good chance of rain. He didn't seem to care because he knows that his sand castle is going to eventually crumble and fall apart to be flattened by the tides and trampled by people walking on the beach. In fact, there was a beautiful work of art a few feet away with one side already falling and crumbling.  Surprisingly, it lasted 3 entire weeks before the tides washed out the foundation.

I regret that I did not get the mans name. As we talked and he worked he told us that he did this work as a ministry. We thought that was a pretty awesome way to open doors to talk to people about deep matters of the soul. Grady asked if he was a Christian and to our surprise he said that he was not. He doesn't call himself a Christian or advocate that Christ is the only way to God because he wants to be more all inclusive of other religions.

We shared with him that Christianity cannot be lumped into that "all inclusive" category because Jesus said, "I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved." John 10:9

Jesus also said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."  John 14:6  

Religions of the world believe that there are many roads to God but according to God's Word there is one way to God. Through Jesus Christ alone.

The more we spoke with the man the more confusing his theology was. He was literally carving out his own doctrinal beliefs as he talked while contradicting his own statements. By the end of our conversation I think he was as confused as we were about what he believed. 

I ended our conversation by telling him, he has built his faith on shifting sand just like his sand castles. A house must be built on a rock if it is to withstand the storms.

Build on the Rock

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."  Matthew 7:24-27

Go with God.