Tear down that wall

"Would you like to see the Berlin Wall?" sister Amy asked after picking me up at the airport.
"In Texas? "
I thought the Berlin wall would be in Berlin, but what do I know?

I had come to Texas to help Amy who had been in the hospital for the better part of a month. The last thing she wanted or needed to do was worry about cleaning and organizing her house. So my job was to help her declutter without causing her more stress than the clutter would. This is much harder than it sounds. The devil you know is sometimes preferable to the devil you wish you didn't know with a trash bag and a mop.

But for the drive home, she and her saintly husband Jim would show me the sights first.

They took me to an enormous hotel. Tucked in a corner with no identifying plaque stood a piece of what did appear to be part of the Berlin Wall. It had large steel girders exposed where the concrete had been hammered away and graffiti covered it.
"Are you sure this is the real Berlin wall?" I asked.
"What else would it be? " asked Jim.
"It looks like an artist rendition of the Berlin Wall. The graffiti doesn't look like regular people did this."

Besides that, there was no plaque or anything that identified this incredible symbol of the yearning of all mankind to be free. Surely there would be something to alert the passerby that the march of tyranny had once been halted and here stood the icon of that human victory. How had this hotel in Dallas scored to receive this limited edition?
"It used to have a plaque, " Amy told me.

Later as we wandered near the Dallas convention Center, I spotted a large abstract sculpture.
"I think that's a Henry Moore sculpture, " I said.
Unlike the Berlin Wall, there was a plaque that verified my hunch.

Later Jim googled the locations of pieces of the Berlin wall and it was indeed in Dallas. There is also a piece in Raleigh, NC. I could understand it being in Washington, DC. But what was it doing in a Dallas hotel and why was it unmarked?

And we were the only people looking at it. I know that winning the Cold war is old news and right now people are crowding thousands deep to see more interesting sights like Justin Bieber. Still, it struck me as odd that it stood there so unassuming and forgotten. No one else had been gaping at the Henry Moore sculpture either but at least if one were to gape, he would know what he was gaping at.

It made me think of all the walls in life, many that should be torn down and maybe would be torn down if we only knew them for what they really were. Like the wall of unbelief that separates us from God. Or the wall of pride that keeps us from saying words that might bring healing to someone we've harbored anger or resentment towards. Or the wall of indifference in the face of others' suffering and misfortune. Or the wall of despair when strength is gone and it just seems easier to give up.

There are other significant walls that came a tumbling down. The walls of Jericho were torn down. It is interesting that they were not demolished by catapults or hammers or wrecking balls. The walls were leveled by faith and obedience to God.

Each person that shatters the wall of unbelief gets a plaque of sorts. His name is carved eternally in the hands of God. We don't see that plaque either - at least not til the Final War is over.

Isaiah 49:16 NIV

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.

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