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The way the waves just continue coming...over and over and over...and don't stop. The quantity of itty bitty grains of sand on one beach...the way it feels on your bare feet. The vastness of the water. The continuous breeze and the sound of the water - the waves crashing. The colors, the sounds, the smells, the emotions that make the 'real world' melt away... The way the waves are SO powerful that it can totally pull you under or knock you down, even hurt when it smacks you in the back!
The trillions of grains of sand on the beach reminds me how He knows how many hairs are on my head and I don't doubt at all that He knows how may grains of sand are on the beach - He is all knowing. It is purely amazing. Psalm 139:17-18 (NIV) says, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them, Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I am awake, I am still with you." His thoughts about me are more numerous than the grains of sand!! He thinks about me constantly!! (and you too!) Whoa...
This visit to the beach, Jeff invited me to get up with him for the sunrise on the beach one morning. Which, on a side note, was such a romantic thing! We looked it up online - what time to expect the sunrise. Of course, it listed it to the exact minute. We have faith that the sun will rise every morning and we know the exact time to depend on it to come up. Sitting on the beach watching the orange sun peak just over the blue horizon I was struck with the beauty of it all. God, even more sure than the sunrise, is dependable - showing up on time. More so than the things we have faith in here on this earth -- the seasons changing, the sun rising and setting, our next breath and heartbeat without thinking about it -- God is worthy of our faith and worthy to depend on. He is on time. It is nice that we can pin a time on the sunrise, the tides changing, a flight taking off (sometimes), and the beginning of the school day...but sometimes we don't know the time of events. We don't know when we will die, or when we will conceive, or when to expect the next storm in our lives. But God does...and He is on time. Always...
We can try to predict the sunrise time, a storm coming, and reactions of others. But we can't predict exactly what to expect from God. Although He is always dependable and has proven that He can be trusted, He is God and we do not know His ways - so he is unpredictable to us. But He is in control fully. Unpredictable to us yet fully in control. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
I had to sit down and reflect about the wonder and beauty of the ocean and how it allows me to draw near to God. How it makes Him so amazing and so big in my eyes. My hope is that I can find the same beauty and wonder in each and every day - because it is there - my eyes just need to be open and my heart needs to be looking for it. A piece of Him - every day - every place.
