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Do you remember building sand castles? I’ve seen some pretty elaborate ones on my trips to the beach or even to the lake. It is always amazing to me how detailed some folks can be, even at such young ages, but as we grow older, we continue to build sand castles – the size and cost just increase.

You know how temporary those sand castles were, right? We would work so hard to build the most impressive structure possible, only for the tide to rise that night and wash it all away. And if by chance the tide didn’t rise high enough to destroy it, someone wandered along on the beach and demolished it anyway. Sand castles aren’t, by design or material, created to last forever, or even for very long. They are extremely temporary.

So why is it that as we grow older we spend so much of our adult years building more sand castles? No, I’m not talking about literal castles made of sand at the beach. I’m referring to the things we invest so much of our lives in that are so temporary in nature. We burn so much energy and time, two precious commodities in life, to build up things that won’t survive the test of tide or tribulation.

When the tide of death or tragedy rises, or the tribulation of persecution or hardship comes strolling along, so much of what we have spent our lives building will crumble. Why is that so? 
Jesus used the illustration of two men: a wise man and a foolish man. The wise man built his house upon the rock. When the rains and winds came, it stood firm. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. When the rains and winds came, it was completely demolished. The rock is Jesus Christ. The sand is anything else.

I’ve built my fair share of houses on sand, believe me. And the storms have demolished most all of them, too. One by one they fell. From the most treasured and prized of sand castles to the spur of the moment, last minute ones – they crumbled. I want to be done with temporary efforts. I want to throw away my sand castle days. I want to build things that will last. I want to invest my life in ways that will last long after there is no more Blake Martin. I want to spend my time on this earth building for God’s kingdom, not trying to build my own.

Would you join me in this adventure of kingdom building? Will you put down the sand, and step up to the Rock of Ages. God will honor the desires of our hearts if we are striving to build on Him. Let’s break some ground today . . .

That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

Copyright © 2022 by Blake Martin @https://pastorblakeman.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/sand-castles/ No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org.