The Seagulls are Everywhere!

It’s not uncommon for me to be inspired for a blog from the “birds of a feather that flock together”, so here I go again! Yesterday morning, I was “perched” in my lawn chair at 6 am here at Aransas Bay on the Texas Gulf Coast, praying for the inspiration for tomorrow’s blog. The brilliant sun was rising and seagulls were walking stealthily along the ocean's edge for their next fish or mussel treat. They’d grab a bite to eat then fly away. Then another would land right in front of me.

Jesus talked so much about birds. In Matthew 6:26 He tells His followers not to be anxious about food, but to rely on God as the birds do, who are worth far less than the people He provides for. I started thinking about how privileged those birds are to live where food is so abundant. As I ate a bite of my protein bar, I remembered my granddaughter eating chips from her kayak and being attacked by seagulls. Sharing wasn’t what she had in mind and neither was I. I quickly shoved that bar in my mouth -- quickly! Those seagulls don’t seem to have a preference for land or sea food!

Are those birds really “privileged” or do they have an innate sense of being who they were destined to be? “Privileged” is a word we’ve heard in abundance in the last few weeks. “Privileged” as in born into wealth or born in a certain ethnicity or born into a specific family of origin.

Let’s consider who the real privileged folks are! I am saying that with happy thoughts daily because I choose to believe that I was born into privilege as a member of the royal family of God. I was born into a family that believed that and so did I. As children of God, we are privileged with abundance, but we must step out in faith and go for the opportunities that are just waiting for us. When we receive Christ by faith, we become His children. We are adopted into His family. "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." - John 1:12.

In Matthew 6, Jesus put it this way “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (privileges) shall be added to you.”

Indeed, we are privileged to be children of God Who daily offers us so many blessings. It's time for us to recognize our privileges like living in a free country, having a roof over our head, running water, a warm bed to sleep in, and plenty of food to eat. Yes, we are privileged.

Rescued by the AMEN

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about the rescue of two Florida teens in St. Augustine when the ocean’s strong currents pulled them two miles away from shore. Their faith in “God saves” was reassured when the captain of the yacht called “Amen” spotted them in the water when he was simply scanning the ocean for waves through his binoculars and heard their cries for help. High school senior, Tyler Smith, said, “We were just going to swim out to a small island we saw in the inlet. We thought, ‘That’s not far’. We’re athletes. No problem. We’re young teenagers. We don’t think about currents or anything like that. We’re like, ‘oh we can do this easy’, so we just swam out.”

The pair were stranded in the ocean for two hours (without life jackets) and were losing hope as the waves became rougher and the red buoy they were relying on as a point of reference and potential safety mark became out of reach. Tyler’s legs were cramping from swimming and treading water. Tyler said, “I started crying out to God, please send something, please send someone or some miracle to save us because I still want to see my family again.” That’s when it felt like a miracle occurred for the teens as a yacht, the AMEN, emerged about 200 yards from the desperate pair.

“At some point, it felt like it came out of nowhere. When I looked up I saw this big boat, I just had this feeling that I knew we were getting out of there,” Heather Brown said. She waved a stick she found in the water and started screaming as loud as she could. The Captain of the boat said, “Over the wind, waves, and engines, we thought we heard a desperate scream,” and we saw them.” Tyler said, recalling the memory, “"From us crying out to God, for Him to send someone for us to keep living and a boat named 'Amen,' there's no way that it wasn't Him," Tyler said.

Fear gripped the hearts of Christ’s disciples when the storms, the winds, and the waves came to them on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus saw them from afar and walked on the water to save them. (Matthew 14:22-33). Though this happened over 2,000 years ago, it is still relevant to us today, and particularly to those who need to be rescued. Maybe you are one of those who is paralyzed by fear that grips your heart about what tomorrow holds. That same fear may also be gripping those who are about to give up because matters have gotten worse and they fear for the loss of their marriage or their job or from a debilitating habit or illness or relationship breakdown.

Jesus still saves. Jesus – the same – yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) has the ability and wants to come walking on the water into all of our lives. His grace. His love. His mercy. He’s reaching out even now to RESCUE you and me from whatever fear or situation we are facing today. We're crying out for help, Lord Jesus. As you are reaching out to us with your arms of love, we are reaching out to you. Jesus saves. AMEN!

Awestruck at the Awesomeness of God

The longer I live and the places I get to go, the more awestruck I am by the majesty of God. What a genius He is! I bask in His meticulous handiwork everywhere. This last week I found myself in awe of Him even more while at the Sea of Cortez where all kinds of driftwood, shells, extraordinary plants and birds are everywhere. I even found 3-leaf clovers on a rock wall and had the opportunity to talk to my grandson about St. Patrick and how he used the 3-leaf clover to describe the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Thank you, God, for your brilliant way of helping me teach a good Bible lesson!

Bryson and I are the beach scavengers. The many varieties of seashells are the most amazing to me -- washed up from the sea or ocean and are scattered all along the beach. They certainly pull on our imaginations. Intrigued, we pluck them up from the sand to gawk at their colors, shapes, and sizes or hold them to our ear to hear the echoing sea.

My Bryson is the animal-of-any-kind lover so he was very bothered when I pulled a very-attached shell off a rock! “You’ve killed it, Nana! How could you?” My ignorance of shell life, as well as my sympathetic whine, helped my plea for forgiveness! He forgave!

To this gal, growing up on the prairies, seashells represent just about the most exotic and attractive natural objects on earth. But, what is most impressive is God, our Creator, Who came up with the idea of these seashells that offer marine animals some protection from predators with that rigid thick support that enables them to eat (and avoid being eaten), move and reproduce. The diverse forms, sizes, patterns, and colors reveal so much about the creative, imaginative, all-powerful, all-knowing, God we love, know and serve.

Laura Story, composer, and Chris Tomlin, recording artist, put this song on the map -- and its words explain how I felt in God’s vast domain this week:

"From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation revealing Your majesty.
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring,
Every creature unique in the song that it sings.
All exclaiming!
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God!
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God!

Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God!"

When You Pass Through the Waters, I Will Be With You

I showed this map of the Sea of Galilee and the places of many of Jesus' miracles to my kids when I was sharing with them about my recent trip to Israel.

The question most of our tour group had was how could there ever be such winds and waves in this small body of water that could cause such fear in those who were sailing from one side to the other? Our guide told us that there have been waves that exceeded eight stories on those waters. No wonder the disciples were concerned for their lives.

Over the years, our family has enjoyed every water feature you could imagine. We frequented lakes and rivers all over the U.S. and Canada where we camped, sailed, fished, river rafted, canoed, and kayaked, and there are no adequate words to convey about the majestic oceans and seas that we cruised.

I recall my Sweetheart sitting back, delighting in the stillness and beauty of those moments in all of those water places. He loved taking it all in. He was "home" by the water. I'm quite sure he's made sure that our mansion in heaven is right by the River of Life.

What if life was like living by a pond or lake? A lake can represent stability and tranquility. A lake doesn’t change much from year to year. With the exception of a severe storm (we were at the lake on plenty of occasions when a tornado was coming through), a lake is a secure place with clear boundaries, stable waters, and a quiet shore. There is a sense of order, control, and safe predictability about a lake, with few major surprises from day to day.

I have found life to be more like traveling down a river. It's extremely unpredictable and filled with many twists and turns, highs and lows, rapids and calms, unseen obstacles and unexpected objects that go drifting by. But, it can also be filled with exhilarating experiences that are packed full of adventure. You can ride the currents of a fast flowing river in a raft or kayak, but you have to avoid the potential dangers which can be devastating to a rider. We know that for a fact – when, one time, our kayaks tipped over and we were pulled into the rapids, and but for the grace of God, could have lost our lives. Our kayaks went on down the river….without us in them. Thank God, we had on life preservers.

As we journey on, we want life to be safe and secure for us and our loved ones, like that lake with borders -- no big changes or surprises. But, in reality, life is more like a river as it is continually moving in ways that we cannot control, predict, or expect.

The good news for us is that our security, stability, AND sanity are not found on the rivers of our lives, but in the Lord of of our lives. Our hope is in Him who knows the way through the obstacles and the twists and turns. Our peace is found in the One who directs our course. Our hope is fixed upon the One whose hands not only created the waters, but calms them, and He is THE ONE Who causes the unpredictability of the waters to work things together for our good.

Isaiah 43:2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you....."

You Can't Cross the Ocean if You Don't Leave the Shore

Yesterday, I posted our "dead-in-the-water" ship experience. When we boarded that ship, our thoughts were for making yet another great memory, enjoy some needed rest and adventure. Our minds never gave way to "What if we meet with disaster?" We "trusted" that the Captain and his crew would steer us to the pre-planned ports and journey they advertised, and in several days, at the end of our trip, we'd go back home.

But, what about Christopher Columbus -- when he set sail -- not knowing what the future held for him and his crew? Chris was a dreamer and visionary who could see beyond the status quo. When brilliant minds were teaching that the earth was flat, good ole' Chris stretched his faith by leaving his comfort zone (the shore), and ventured out into the unknown. And, just think about it, he didn't have the leading edge technology that reports obstacles, weather, and other vessels, that mariners have today. And, athough he faced every adversity imaginable, he didn't give up until his dream was reality. Indeed, his faith and determination paid off. And Chris certainly gave us some valuable lessons to learn from:

1) We shouldn't play it safe by living in our comfort zone. There's some pretty exciting adventures out there -- so why live with regret?
2) We should ignore critics and seek God for wisdom to claim new territories.
3) We owe it to ourselves to set sail and discover God's will for our lives.
4) We must defeat our fears to be able to find the "treasures" that God has for us to discover.

Isn't it time for us to leave the shore.....and take on a great new adventure that just might be the discovery of a great new relationship, the dream job or opportunity we've been looking for, or the invention we believe could bring in a "boatload"??