sand or stone?...trash or art?

by karen #1965 third grade teacher

The parable of the Two Builders: Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:47-49...

now i am not going to do post about this picture...really...but...i guess it is art...and this is a "preachified" post...but it has to be because me and my preachified friend (she says she is crafty, not artsy...artsy denial i tell ya!) did this at church camp...you see...she preaches and i do art with the kids...works out pretty doggone well...so here is what she preached on...in a nutshell...if you forgot to do your devotional this morning, well you are in luck...

"All those who listen to my words and do something about them are like a wise man who builds his house on a rock. The man laid a strong foundation by digging deep into the earth. Then he worked carefully and slowly making sure the building was strong and secure on the rock. And then the rains and floods came and the wind blew hard and beat against the house. But the house did not fall because it was built on a strong foundation.
But the person who hears my words and does nothing with them is like a stupid or foolish man who built his house on the sand. This man did not build a strong deep foundation and built his house very quickly. His tall house was built fast and he moved in feeling safe. Soon the rains and floods came and the wind blew beating against the house. The tall house without a strong foundation just couldn't stand up to the flooding and winds and it cracked and the whole house collapsed."

The crowds were surprised at Jesus' story. Jesus warned them that if the people did not build their life on a deep foundation and follow his teachings then they too would find that their house had fallen down.

so...she preached this parable...

and then...we had a bucket of sand...

and each kid went and put an eye hook in a bucket of sand...

this is an eye hook (DUH...)

and then...we had a bucket of concrete...

and each kid went and put an eye hook in the bucket of concrete...

a few hours later...

we came back to the buckets...

the kids were asked to go pull their eye hooks out of the bucket of sand...

oh yeah, the hooks came right out...

then...the kids were asked to go pull their eye hooks out of the bucket of concrete...

DA DA DA DAAA!

the eye hooks in the concrete would not budge...

so.

end of story?

not so quick...

i saw the bucket of concrete eye hooks...

and i saw...possibilities...like many of you see...

i saw as we considered whether or not to haul this hunk of concrete on a bus with 50 kids for 4 hours south...

and i saw that it was certainly a keeper...

and later.......

i cut the bucket off the concrete...

and made art....

check it out...

a close up look shows you that each child's name has been painted beside an eye hook...

what once was trash...was turned into art...this sits in my preachified friend's office...and she says people always comment...so...

be careful folks...the sinking sand project was a flop...but i think the concrete project is one of color and stability and endurance and strength and it will hurt ur big toe if it falls on ur big toe..and it should prolly be our goal...cause we sure don't want to be a flop...you only do life once on earth...do it right...and keep rockin' on!

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand (Edward Mote 1797-1874)...a hymn you prolly have heard at church...well happy march 10, 2010!