We have reached our fourth and final Sunday in our Season of Creation celebration: River Sunday. But since your Water's Edge Worship Team is San Diego-based, we had to broaden the subject a wee bit. We're going to celebrate the ocean too, and frankly, just about any body of water that is sacred or significant to you!
I'm guessing a lot of you will feel like Beckie Henselmeyer and I, two girls who grew up Boogie boarding and body surfing in the great Pacific: to us, the ocean is God. The power and majesty of crashing waves, the never-ending horizon, the place where your crazy day comes to a close with a breath-taking sunset. Our ocean is a constant and reliable reminder of just how small we are and how much bigger God is. Surely, if he can handle the great waves of the Pacific, he can handle our concerns and problems, no?
I lived in Missouri for the first year or so of my reporting career. My house was in Macon, Mo., a very small town with one stop light, a Wal-Mart and an adorable town square centered next to the courthouse. The nearest body of water was right there, Long Branch Lake State Park (Picture above). I made about 10 cents an hour back then so my days off were filled with free recreation. I often loaded up my bike and headed for the lush, tree-rimmed lake. One time, a friend and I rented a canoe and promptly tipped it over. We were laughing so hard we couldn't get back in the canoe, but made new friends when a speed boat full of folks came to rescue us.
As beautiful as it was, that lake did not tap into my spirit as a visit to the shores of our Pacific would. I could not shake the feeling that I was land-locked. I longed for the violent crashing roar of some monster waves. Years later, living at the edge of Lake Michigan, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I thought that feeling would ease, afterall, that horizon seems never-ending too. Not a chance. I need the ocean. Even though God is with me wherever I go, and I never doubt that, I get claustrophobic if I can't "feel" the nearby shoreline.
Hmm. Whadya make of that? My cousin (pictures above) would say, "You're a bird!" By that, she would mean I'm odd. I say, "Okay, I may be a bird, but at least we know what kind of bird I am: a seagull!"
Where in God's great creation are the waters that speak to your soul?
See you Sunday!
1 comment:
K, We spent many family vacations surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Our 3 boys loved the sand, frisbee, and body surfing along the many shores of Hawaii... trips were made so much more fun {cost effective} since we stayed with our folks who lived in Paradise after their retirement - what a wonderful B&B with special memories... Fred
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