“Kids! Grandpa’s here!” Mother yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
Max and Annie looked at each other excitedly, “Coming!” they said together as they grabbed their bags and headed downstairs.
“Are my little ones ready to go to the beach?” Grandpa asked.
“Yes!” Max and Annie jumped up in excitement.
It was a ten minute walk to the beach, it was a beautiful sunny day and the sand felt hot beneath their feet. Max and Annie dropped their things on the picnic table under the tree. It was their usual spot.
“Grandpa, we’re going to build a sand castle,” Max said, “And I know where the perfect spot is! Right over there, by the water, I want our castle to have the best view.”
“Hmm, sure sounds nice. If the water comes up though, it will destroy your castle. If you want your castle to stand firm, you may want to consider building it on the rocks there.”
“Grandpa’s right, Maxy. Let’s do it by the rocks,” Annie agreed as she pointed to the rocks.
“I really want to have my castle by the water, I don’t think the water will come up. I’ll do a castle by the water, you can do yours by the rocks,” Max said as he grabbed some tools for himself and headed towards the water.
“But Maxy!”. . . . Annie began to yell.
“Annie,” Grandpa said softly with a smile on his face, “Let him see for himself.”
With that, Annie headed to the rocks with her tools, and then took a bucket and headed to get water in order to make mud.
Some time passed by, and both castles looked wonderful. Max’s castle had a river running through the castle, while Annie’s castle stood majestically on one of the big rocks.
“Children, time to eat!” Grandpa had the picnic table set. Annie and Max dropped their tools and ran over to eat. They were truly hungry. After eating, they spent time talking to Grandpa, they had almost forgotten about their castles. Max looked over to the water to show Grandpa the castle he had built, but couldn’t see it anywhere. All he saw was his tools floating in the water.
“Oh no! My castle!” Max yelled as he ran towards the water, Grandpa and Annie followed and helped grab the tools that floated.
“It’s gone! I should have listened to you Grandpa,” Max said sadly, “my castle is gone, but Annie’s castle is still standing firm because she built it on that big rock, and the water can’t reach it.”
“Don´t be sad, Maxy, we can learn something valuable from this, come let me tell you about a story Jesus once told,” Grandpa put his hand on Max´s shoulder.
They headed to the picnic table where Grandpa read from the Bible in Matthew 7:24–27. The story was about a wise man and a foolish man. One man built his house upon a rock, and nothing could destroy that house, not winds or rain, because it stood firm on the rock. However, the foolish man had built his house on the sand, and when the wind and rain came it fell, because it’s foundation was not strong.
“It sounds a lot like what happened today Grandpa,” Maxy said as he looked over to where his castle once stood.
“Jesus represents the rock, children, and we can be either the wise man or the foolish man. When we obey the counsels of God, nothing in life can bring us down. This makes us wise and our life will be like that sandcastle on the rock,” Grandpa said as he pointed towards Annie’s sandcastle. “However, if we decide to do things our own way, the hardships of life will destroy us. We must learn to listen to Jesus, even when things don’t make sense to us, because in the end, he knows what’s best.”
“I definitely want to be the wise man, grandpa, I want to build my house on the rock,” smiled Max.
“Then let’s build it! Come on!” said Annie as she got up and ran towards the rock. Max hugged his grandpa and followed happily.