sand castles

Wendy and I sat out on the beach last night around mid-night. Watching and listening to the small Atlantic waves wash in over and over and over again. There was a consistent breeze coming in from off the water and the sea air was a little salty. Earlier we talked to the kids about walking to the beach and Hannah, showing her 14 year old self said "why should we? it's exactly the same as it was the last time we went to the beach, boring." When I was a kid I used to love going to the beach  and I especially loved feeding the seagulls. They would nearly flog you trying to get to the torn up pieces of  hot dog buns before the wind blew them away. Wendy and I were more than happy to leave the kids in the room as we ventured out alone. Some day they will miss those boring times, but, until then, Wendy and  I have no problem enjoying them by ourselves.

I got up this morning and after making coffee and walking the dog. I went back to the beach alone to pray. I could really get used to this lifestyle. One of the rules of the beach is "No feeding the birds". I guess the idea is to keep the birds from becoming annoying. Nobody wants hundreds of seagulls and pigeons flapping and calling out for a snack. Darting here and there and leaving their droppings all over the beautiful beach. If they are intentionally fed, then they will continue to flock around where they were fed. So I was very surprised to find hundreds of birds out on the beach this morning and nobody was feeding them. I guess they just develop the habit of checking the beach for food.

It's kinda funny because one of the things Wendy and I talked about last night is how people are creatures of habit too. How we get up, get ready, eat breakfast, go to work, go to lunch, go back to work, go home, eat dinner, watch tv and go to bed. Our whole lives seem to hinge on our schedules. The thing is, that habits and schedules are security to us. Problem is, our schedules are not always Gods' schedule. I wonder how many times I didn't do something God would have had me do because it didn't fit into my schedule. How many people did I zoom by while in cruise control?

Instead of traveling down that guilt trip, my real intention is to point out how, like the ocean that's sure to be just the same tonight as it was last night, so is God. The consistencies of God are amazing and despite our schedules, God seems to come in like the tide, and mess up our perfectly constructed lives that appear a lot like sand castles to Him. I believe it's his intention to break up our schedules and get us out of our ruts so we will look and listen to him. He likes to feed us so we will flap and call out to him for more.

Matthew 6:26 says "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" 

So perhaps the next time something seems to be conflicting with your schedule, stop and listen for a minute. Maybe God is crashing in on you or maybe he's going to use you to crash in on someone else.