BEDA - April 4th

Today, Saturday the 4th of March, was spent relaxing on the beach. Just like old times. It was Kelcie, Deborah, me, and we successfully spent a good majority of the day doing nothing. I literally got to the beach, laid out my towel, sat on it, and didn't move for the remainder of our time there. I caught some sun while listening to a fantastic book called Buy•ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, by Martin Lindstrom. I can't wait to finish it..it's has a plethora of unbelievable findings - Did you know that 10 million cigarettes are bought every minute? - and all sorts of other intriguing things. Very Well-written book, as it should be after 3 years of research. These guys went all out. Anywho, then we stayed all day, waiting for the sunset. Last time, we had an unfortunate aquaintence with us who said "this sunset is ugly." Which was sad. So today, we went, just the three of us, and watched it. But, we all decided that the one back in January (the "ugly" one was much better than this one. And that reminded me of my revelation I had at my last sunset. I thought I'd share that with you all, because it really had an impact on me, and I got some great comments from people who read it. So here is what I wrote up after my last sunset, but accurately describes most sunsets, if not all. Here goes:

So, back in January, Chris (my roommate), Deborah, Kelcie, and I went to the beach. Chris and I went body surfing/boogie boarding and played catch with the football. Kelcie and Deborah went on a long walk on the beach. And then we ate at that restaurant there on the beach, Gaston's. By that time, it was almost five, and the sun would be going down in like half an hour, so we decided to stay and watch the sunset on the beach. Oh my word, soooooooo beautiful. But that's not my story. My story is...my revelation of man's journey towards finding God. And it all came to me so fast, it was too exciting, and I came home and drew up this big diagram of it and everything. Anywho, I'll stop bogging you down with nonsense and just jump right into my story. So here goes:

I was sitting in the sand, admiring the sunset, when I started thinking about just how beautiful the sunset was, and just how powerful God is, creating such beauty. The thought of the sun going over the horizon, and creating all these wonderful scenes us just something that goes under-rated all the time. Watching sunsets is so...moving. Perfect. Awesome. Awe-inspiring. They amaze me. But, this one was one for the history books. At least to me, cause in my putting too much thought into it, and looking for a relationship to God from His sunset, something really hit me. This is going to be hard to explain on here, I'd much rather have you on the beach with me so I could really explain it like it should be, but this will have to do for now.

So there I was on the beach, sand all around me, and this beautiful sight in front of me, encompassing the entire sky. And I thought of a little grain of sand. An insignificant little grain of sand. And I realized that that was me. And every piece of sand was someone. But for what I was concerned of, I was a little insignificant piece of sand in a vast world of never ending sand. And, I don't know if you've ever sat on the beach and watched a sunset before, but, what happens is, when the sun goes over the horizon, you have to be up on the beach a ways to actually see the horizon, and the fading sun. If you're down at the water level where the waves are sliding up the beach and then fading back into the ocean, you can't see the horizon. The towering incoming waves are much too tall, and they block out the sun and most of the beautiful sunset. So, there I am, little grain of sand, at the edge of the water, looking out towards the ocean, but only seeing big waves come crashing in front of me. And it hit me again. The sunset is God. The waves are temptations, sins, things that keep us from God, that keep us from seeing Him, seeing his Light, seeing his Beauty. Every once in a while, you'll get this random break in the waves where the ocean is barely calm until it stirs up another wave, and you get a glimpse of the sunset for a split second. You get a glimpse of God. But then once again, those towering waves come up again, and God is out of sight again.

And it just kept going. The wind? That's Satan. He blows us around like no one's business. What's a little helpless piece of sand to do when a powerful wind comes blowing through? Well, you might say he has no other choice but to give in and follow that wind. How can it not be pressured by that wind? I'll tell you. That sand must latch on to other pieces of sand, harden themselves, create a bond that that wind can't break, therefore not being manipulated by the wind. If the sand is hard, it's not going anywhere. The wind is just going to blow right over it, and it's going to take all those other pieces of sand that didn't latch onto anyone. The ones that didn't have a friend to trust, a friend to create a strong relationship with. The other pieces of sand are our friends, our relationships though life, who we decide to trust, who we bond with. The stronger the bond, the harder it is to waver, correct? You create a stronghold with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and that wind can't touch you. It will just blow right over you. There still is one problem though. God's still out at the edge of the horizon, still being beautiful as ever, watching what's happening on the beach, but wishing people were watching Him, watching His sunset, and not focusing on the wind or the scary crashing waves.

Now, how does a little piece of sand witness the beauty of God and his sunset when he's stuck on the beach, since we've already established that a piece of sand never sees the full beauty of God's sunset from the edge of the ocean. Those gosh darn waves keep rising up and getting in the way. The temptations keeping us from God NEVER stop, and they only get bigger the farther you go out. The closer you get to God, the farther you are from Satan, the harder he tries to get you back by sending bigger waves at you. Keeping you from God. They just won't stop. So how is a grain of sand supposed to see God from his standpoint, at the edge of the water, looking out at the waves, a small glimpse of light up in the sky? I don't know about you, but I'm 6 feet tall, 160 pounds, and I'm STILL afraid of those big scary waves out there. How is that going to look to a grain of sand? The waves are going to toss him and turn him like none other. That's not going to look inviting at all to a grain of sand. But what other way does he have of getting to God? That's his only option. The tough way. The way with trials and tribulations. The way not taken by many. But that grain of sand saw a small glimpse of God's sunset, and the only way to see the full splendor of God is to be right out there with Him.

So that grain of sand...he goes all out for God. He jumps right in those waves. Yeah, he gets pushed around, bullied, told what to do and where to go. But his heart is set on the beauty beyond, and he pushes on. What does he have to do? He has to overcome. He has to "rise above" the waves, overcome the waves, not get pushed farther and farther from God. Every now and then, the "perfect wave" comes along and throws him so far off course, he forgets where he was headed. But eventually he comes around, and remembers his original plan, and where his heart was headed. He puts his trust in the sunset beyond the waves, what he knows is there, but never really seen. He has faith it's out there, but only because he's seen glimpses of it here and there. The rare times when the waves are low enough for him to see the sunset for a second. He blinks, and there appears five more waves coming at him. But what seemed like a coincidence, there really was more to it. Divine intervention allowing God to be viewed by those grains who are looking in the right direction. Some would say chance. Some would say coincidence. I would say God. And as this grain of sand overcomes and overcomes, rises above temptation after temptation thrown his way, God becomes more and more visible to him. His light is being shown throughout the entire known universe to that grain of sand. His beauty radiating of the backs of the waves he just rose above. And it seems as if the grain of sand has reached the end of his journey. He's seen the full splendor of God in His sunset.

But sometimes, that sun will go down. And it will go dark. And it seems as if, through all that hard work, you lose your sunset, and you're left on your own. But that grain of sand is persistent. He just witnessed the most beautiful thing he's ever seen (apart from those dead clams on that beach of his) and he sets out looking for that sunset he so gloriously witnessed. And he looks. And he searches. And seems to be lost in those waves again, the ones he thought he overcame and wouldn't have to deal with anymore. And after searching his heart out, when he least expected it, there came the sunset again, but in even more beauty than the last one.

Even though he lost sight of the sunset, it wasn't gone forever. It will ALWAYS come back to him, in even more beauty. And that grain of sand will never be as perfect as that sunset, never be as beautiful as it was in the dimming sky, he can always keep searching for it, and it will always be there for him, day in, day out. Usually the "day outs" though. :)