{"id":1570,"date":"2012-08-08T16:18:55","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T20:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/?p=1570"},"modified":"2012-08-08T17:29:31","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T21:29:31","slug":"sand-castles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/08\/sand-castles.html","title":{"rendered":"Sand Castles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago we took my son and his family to East Harbor Beach on Lake Erie.\u00a0 Our grand-daughter, Erin had never seen a beach before because in St. Louis, where they live, she had only swam in pools.\u00a0 She was quite funny to watch as she and her daddy built their very first sand castle.\u00a0 It wasn’t fancy, but it did have a tower and a moat.\u00a0 When the waves came in the moat filled with water.\u00a0 When a big wave came in, the castle melted away.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bible tells us a story about building our houses on sand.\u00a0 In Matthew 7:26, we are told that a wise man builds his house upon the rock and a foolish man builds his house upon the sand.\u00a0 The Rock that we should build upon is Jesus.\u00a0 He will provide a safe place for us.\u00a0 Even when the storms of life assail us, we can stand strong.\u00a0 Jesus is our strength, our high tower, our deliverer, and our constant hope in all situations.<\/p>\n

Building anything on sand is risky business.\u00a0 Sandy ground is great for growing some crops, but not for building on.\u00a0 We have all seen news reports where whole houses are dumped into the ocean because of too much rain.\u00a0 These were beautiful buildings, with all kinds of expensive woods and decorations, but that didn’t matter.\u00a0 When the rains came, the house fell.<\/p>\n

Our spiritual houses also must be built on solid ground, the Rock.\u00a0 The Bible has all the answers we will ever need on how to live and walk as a Christian.\u00a0 It’s pages don’t change with the weather.\u00a0 The rain does not dampen it’s truth.\u00a0 You either believe it is God’s Word or you don’t.\u00a0 We can’t take the portions we like and discard the ones we don’t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The sand we often try to build on is our human understanding.\u00a0 Knowledge and understanding are not bad in and of themselves.\u00a0 However, when our opinion over rides God’s word we are walking on shifting sands.\u00a0 Sand is good for many things, building is not one of them.<\/p>\n

Playing in the sand can be so much fun.\u00a0 It makes wonderful memories for our family.\u00a0 There is no better place to be than sitting by the ocean or lake to meditate on the things of God.\u00a0 I find it especially refreshing.\u00a0 Just don’t expect your castles to be there next week because they will have returned to the bottom of the sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago we took my son and his family to East Harbor Beach on Lake Erie.\u00a0 Our grand-daughter, Erin had never seen a beach before because in St. Louis, where they live, she had only swam in pools.\u00a0 She was quite funny to watch as she and her daddy built their very first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,14,30],"tags":[25,13,28],"class_list":["post-1570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-inspiration","category-memories","tag-children","tag-family-communications","tag-truth"],"yoast_head":"\nSand Castles - Small Town America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/08\/sand-castles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sand Castles - Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few weeks ago we took my son and his family to East Harbor Beach on Lake Erie.\u00a0 Our grand-daughter, Erin had never seen a beach before because in St. Louis, where they live, she had only swam in pools.\u00a0 She was quite funny to watch as she and her daddy built their very first…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/08\/sand-castles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-08T20:18:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-08T21:29:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/files\/2012\/08\/IMG_0920-300x238.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dhanny\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sand Castles - 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