BUILDING SANDCASTLES

A boy grew up in a home, where although there was a mothers love, there was a father who was afraid that his boy would be a sissy. This sensitive and musically talented little boy grew up and his mechanic father used to knock him around to help him develop into a strong man one day. He could never please his dad, no matter how hard he tried. His father once threw him across a room. He tried to make him into a hunter, an athlete and a wrestler. At the age of 8 his mother and father finally divorced. This 8 year old boy went into his room, took a marking pen and wrote on the wall:-

Daddy hates mommy,
Mommy hates daddy,
I hate daddy,
I hate mommy!

This is the story of Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the band Nirvana, who claimed that the traumatic split fuelled the anguish in Nirvana’s music. During April this year, Kurt took a shotgun and ended his life. This came after attempts to come off heroine and other drugs and after a suicide attempted through a drug overdose.

How could a person who had become so rich and famous have such a tragic ending to his life - a man who had a beautiful wife and a nineteen month old child - a man who had the music world at his feet? The band Nirvana not only made it big on the music charts, but they launched a new style of music known as Grunge. But despite the fame and fortune Kurt found life empty. A song called, "I hate myself and I want to die" was recorded and dropped from the last Nirvana Album. He speaks of how he lost "the passion."

This week on Beverley Hills 90210, there was a sandcastle building competition on the beach that the teenagers of West Beverley were involved in. When Kelly and Dylan were walking on the beach contemplating the end of their holiday romance there was a poetic moment when a wave came in and destroyed one of the sandcastle creations.

Another individual who had been involved in the risky business of building sandcastles once encountered Jesus Christ. In Matthew 19:16-22 we read of the young man who came to Jesus one day and asked about how he could inherit eternal life. To an outsider it seemed that he had his life together.

He had wealth - money and possessions
He had entertainment - his wealth probably attracted friends that he partied with
He had the right heritage - a family of good standing in the community
He had the education - he was trained in the best schools in Jerusalem, and probably knew the Word of God through the training of the Pharisees
He was probably sporty and handsome - he did not find it difficult to find a date for a night

While he had everything, there was a weakness, everything was built on sand - he did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and as a result he went away depressed. He was not willing to give up his trivial pursuits in order to embrace the one who had made him.

Maybe you are building sandcastles - around a career or a diploma; possessions, good looks, doing good or even banking on your tribe or family heritage to get you through life - unless you reconnect with your creator you will ultimately end up without a passion, or depressed.

If the Word of God, or the Christian faith, is correct and we did not evolve from a slime pit somewhere, but were created by God himself, then it follows that he intended for man to find true fulfilment in a relationship with himself. Until we return to him, admit our sorrow at having tried to find true fulfilment in everything else apart from him, then we will be miserable despite our money; sad despite our success and passionless despite our possessions.

Building sandcastles is risky. Listen to a story that Jesus told which vividly portrays the risk:

"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." Matthew 7:24-27.

Written by Mark Tittley: Email

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