September 2nd, 2010 
Dana Fisher Remember building sand castles on the beach when you were a kid? Big colorful pails, filled with sand and water; You’d dump them over, tap on the top and gently slide it up, hoping it didn’t crumble. I was never really good at it, only being able to build those cylinders from pails and never building anything close to some of those masterpieces you see on tv, but it was still fun to build, sculpt, and play with friends and nearby beach goers.
I’d build competitively against my brother or friends, who could build the best, biggest, or coolest castle. Inevitably, as your back was turned taking a dip in the cold ocean, someone would maliciously come along and step on it, destroying it and forcing you to rebuild.
And so I hear that a mosque is being built within earshot of where the twin towers once stood and thought, WHAT? You come along, destroy my sand castle and then try building one of your own right on top of it? But as I spent time muling it over I realized my mistake. When Jesus calls to a disciple in Matthew 8 He says “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” In essense don’t be wrapped up in the chaos of this world, or the people consumed by worldly issues but follow Jesus and become a fisher of men. To me that changes the whole outlook of what I should be doing every day and how I should be carrying myself.
When reading the teachings of Jesus he rebuked those who sinned knowingly, spitting in the face of God. But to those who were misguided, confused, and unaware he showed grace, compassion, mercy, and love. He reeled them in with kindness and gentleness, showing a side of humanity people rarely see. And isn’t that how we should be?
If you are a follow of Jesus you certainly believe He is the only way to the Father. A consequence of that is that every other religion is wrong. But do you need to shove it in peoples face? The muslims building this mosque aren’t bad people. In fact, the Bible tells us He loves everyone the same. They don’t know the truth but the way to show them the truth isn’t by alienating them or forcing them out of one particular area.
When my castle was crushed under the foot of an oppressor, getting angry only hurt me and drew out a potential conflict. It didn’t actually solve anything. We as followers of Christ build our houses on the rock. You can crush my castle, you can burn down my buildings, take my clothes, but my foundation will always remain(Matthew 7). I don’t hate America, but I am anti-American. I do desire to shed these me first wants, the glutony and selfishness of American culture. This land isn’t mine, these buildings are not my home. Let them build their idols and let God destroy them. As I wrote last week, who are we to judge? There is only one Judge and it certainly isn’t me.
I’m tired of walking around with a Bible and being painted as a narrow minded hate mongerer. If we walk around with a Bible in our hands shouldn’t we be looked upon as the first person to ask for directions, the first person willing to help in a bad situation, or the person that would show unmitigated compassion?
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