Shifting Sand

When I say “sand,” what’s the first thing you think of?

If I asked my daughter Hannah that question, she would be back on the beach from which she just returned in a heartbeat. In fact, she took this photo there, and even wrote a few haiku on her way home, including this one:

Surrounded by feet.
I find several grains of sand.
I miss the ocean.

The beach–any beach–is sand. Sometimes it’s fine and white; other times it’s coarse and golden. But whether you’re digging your toes in it, using it to build castles, or washing it out of your swimsuit, you can’t escape sand at the beach. Sand defines the beach. Or does it?

Think about this: You can never visit the same beach twice. Sure, you may head to the Outer Banks of North Carolina every year, or make an annual trek to Charleston, South Carolina. But the ever-changing nature of sand will create a different beach every time you walk to the water’s edge, whether it’s been a year or an hour.

Then again, if I say “sand,” you might not even think of the coast. I’m pretty sure Tiger Woods thinks of sand differently, because for him, sand can be hazardous. Still, the outcome is up in the air. Sand can either trap a golfer, or provide an opportunity to shine (as is often the case for Tiger).

I’ve never actually seen quicksand, but I certainly remember learning about it from Gilligan’s Island reruns on TV. Because no one ever told me there’s no quicksand where I lived in Virginia, I took Gilligan’s example to heart as a kid, and kept a close watch where I was walking. You never knew when you might step into quicksand, cleverly disguised as regular, garden-variety sand, and be swallowed up in a matter of minutes, never to be heard from again!

The one constant about sand is that it’s changeable, and that’s Biblical. In Matthew 7:24-27 we get fair warning:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (NIV)

The band Caedmon’s Call also has something to say about our faith and “Shifting Sand”:

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace.

May His grace be your rock and the foundation of your life.