Beach Beauty

Everyone back home…I so wish you could be here right now. 

I’m currently sitting on a beach, watching the stars and the moon, preparing to fall asleep.  That’s right, falling asleep on the beach.  This has always been a dream of mine, and because tomorrow is a holiday here, 4 friends and I went camping at a beach tonight.  We first went to the first market to buy our dinner, then started a fire on the beach to cook it, along with rice and veggies.  After that we played dominos (which I lost terribly) and are now getting ready to sleep.  It has been a truly blessed day. 

But as I sit here and write, hearing the crashing of the waves, feeling the sand in my toes and the breeze in my hair, I just feel so overwhelmed by His power.  Before dinner, we were talking about how he created all of this beauty in Heaven and on Earth, yet He still wants to be with us and know us.  This is one of the greatest mysteries, yet the greatest blessing of our faith.  The greatest power, came to earth as the humble of humble, the perfect sinless lamb to live with sinners, and ultimately die a criminal’s death only to provide us criminals a way to live in His glory forever.  It doesn’t seem right, yet in this fact is beauty. 

So many times, we discount this incredible gift.  Many of us have heard it since grade school, the same old story again and again, that sometimes it doesn’t have as much meaning to us.  I’ve been there recently, trying to breathe life into these stories, stories that are incredibly alive and waiting to work, yet my heart isn’t open to hear it.  This attitude of our hearts can have us in a rut, a spiritual hole, and a place where we are unable to truly experience God as He wants to make himself known. 

But as soon as we take time to step back and reflect, we quickly see how incredible our God truly is.  When we’re in this spiritual hole, it isn’t Him who changes, it is us.  And all we have to do is make a conscious effort to run back, and He will surely meet us there, with the same power and majesty as the waves, the wind, the moon, and the sea that I see now.  It is a beautiful sight, an experience that I only pray you will have sometime in your life. 

Maybe you’re not sitting on a beach when you read this.  Maybe you don’t feel close to God right now, or maybe you do.  But it is my prayer that you will take time today to stop, listen, and soak up his majesty.  It is there, all we have to do is look up and see. 

Luke Forshey

September 12, 2016