Strength to Stand

My family went to the beach recently on vacation.

My wife and I aren't the biggest beach bums.

Okay, so the romantic notion of the smell of the salty air while the breeze blows through your hair is nice.

And when you stand on the shoreline and you hear the roar of the ocean and see the vastness of it, it's difficult not to see God's hand at work.

But besides that, I hate it.

It's the sand.

Did you know you can't just walk on the beach without getting sand everywhere? Seriously, somehow I got it in my underwear and my mouth without stepping foot in the water.

Not only do I not like the sand, but I loathe salt water.

I put salt on everything (Jesus said something about staying salty). But I don't put it in my water. It stings my eyes, tastes horrible, and makes my skin feel funky.

And have you seen Shark Week? I don't even trust murky bathwater anymore.

But my girls have only been to the beach a few times and they wanted to go.

They wanted to play in the ocean. Of course, I tried to reason with them. I warned of the stinging, nasty salt water, with sand that gets everywhere, but none of that will matter when a shark eats you first.

They didn't heed my threat.

They started out running from the waves coming onto the shoreline. They loved the waves chasing them so much that they started to inch their way deeper and deeper into the water. They held my hands as we made it to their waist.

They would giggle and squeal with delight when the waves crashed into them.

Eventually, they wanted to let go of my hands.

The force of every wave moved their positions. Sometimes it was too much for them and they were knocked down. With waves crashing over them, I would reach down and help them up. They would spit out the salt water and want to do it again. They loved it.

It wasn't long until they noticed that the ocean had little affect on me. They began to question it.

"How do you do that, daddy? Why don't the waves knock you down?"

Even after I gave them the answer, every time a wave would knock them back they would ask, "How do you do that?"

They couldn't seem to grasp that my size and experience in the ocean allowed me to withstand the waves.

That's how it is with our faith.

We look at people around us, who seem to stand so firmly and we wonder, "How do you do that?"

Even though the waves crash all around them, they stand. A wave that would knock us down, doesn't seem to move them at all. They move deeper and deeper trusting in something that we, at times, have a difficult time seeing under the murky waters. 

You know people like this. People's whose faith amazes you.

Sometimes, we are a little jealous of them. Because we see them standing, but we didn't get to see it when the waves had more of an affect on them.

Hopefully, they inspire you.

I think about one of my best friends, Michael. Michael and his wife moved from Sioux City, Iowa to Bangor, Pennsylvania to pastor at a new church. How in the world could they have moved across country following God? He's lived there for some time and has experienced a lot of success. But now God is sending them back to Iowa to plant a church. And this time they are traveling across America with two young children. He's leaving the certain for the uncertain. That inspires me. (By the way, check out his blog www.weheartsux.blogspot.com.)

I look at Michael and want to ask, "How do you do it, Michael?"

When you follow Jesus, you get better with it in time.

Your faith and trust gets stronger.

Don't get discouraged if it always seems like you are being knocked around by the waves. Or left always wondering how everyone else does it. Rather, remember that you too will get there in time.
 
Every experience takes you deeper into your faith and allows you to stand when the waves come crashing in.