I grew up on the beaches of Australia. The memories I have are among the best of my life. I am not sure I can adequately describe the way my soul seems to soar when my toes first feel the sand, or I see the sparking water, or hear the waves crashing with the steady rhythm- ageless as time itself, or feel the salty spray on my skin, or the tingle of the sun, or the unique smell of all things beach.....
I love the beach, whether it's Glenelg, in Adelaide, Bondi, or Bronte in Sydney, Tura Beach, Merimbula, New South Wales, Australia, Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast or Queensland, Australia, La Jolla Shores, in San Diego California, Laie Hawaii, Ka'anapali Maui, or Peurto Plata in the Dominican Republic, they each have a special place in my heart.
My office and home are peppered with souvenirs of my beach times like,
"Sand between your toes, waves crashing, sunsets...it doesn't get much better than this."
"My home is where the waves are" and Frangipani's, sand dollars, seashells and more....
the beach speaks to my soul, and is easily one of my best sources to rejuvenate and replenish my heart. I love the quiet solace when it's just me and the waves...watching hypnotically the turquoise transparency of the almost breaking crest of each wave....I never tire of endlessly watching the waves roll in, and crash, foaming on the wet sand...and no matter what else is happening anywhere, those waves continually roll in time after time. To me it's like a silent message from a loving Creator...I am here, I will always be here, and I love you with every breath. All is well. The balm to my soul though nearly impossible to describe, is felt by others too I know. It's as if He is saying, I got this...just breathe! And He does...and so I just breathe in that salty air, relishing in the newness of one more wave coming ashore, and yet the timelessness of endless waves under His command.
So all this flooded my mind yesterday as I was reading the age-old story of the wise and foolish men in the scriptures. And how the Great Teacher draws a simple but powerful analogy of the extreme end results of two men who had both heard His teachings, and had good intentions.The first builds his house upon a rock and when "the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock." The tale continues with the foolish man who had built his house upon the sand..."the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of this house." I was reminded of a time in San Diego when a beautiful house was built on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the mighty Pacific Ocean. The owner wanted lush green grass in his backyard, and against the advice of the city continually watered it until one day, thoroughly soaked, that lovely green lawn simply dropped to the beach below it! It was quite the sight! "great was the fall thereof..."
And so with these thoughts streaming through my mind I gave greater attention to the sand in the story. And whilst I have walked on sandy beaches in multiple countries around the world, sand has one thing in common everywhere....it moves under pressure. We all love that feeling of warm, soft sand, and how it feels between our bare toes. However, it shifts when weight is put on it, it knows no boundaries, it gets caught in the wind and ends up wherever the wind drops it, it gets washed away by the waves, it's in a constant state of movement. Even footprints in it are, in time, no longer visible because it has moved. External forces create these changes, it's not the sand itself.
And then there's the rock in the tale...immovable, solid, unchangeable, safe under these identical conditions.
The lesson here is that the conditions may be the same, but the results are so different...based on our choice of foundation. This is true of many things but none so blatantly obvious as our personal choice of whom we choose to build our foundation upon. Winds, rains, floods...the house built on the rock is still there.
Christ is my rock. No matter what storms blow into my life, He is always there. My house is still standing after it has taken a beating. He is my sure foundation. And so as I continue to wander the sandy beaches world-wide, I will remember as that warm soft sand shifts between my toes, that it's wonderful to look at and feel, I will also remember my Savior, my rock, is who I will always build my life upon.
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