Vacation '07: Day 5

One of my favorite things to do on vacation... is to get up early and go out on the back porch and read for a while. There is nothing like sitting out there with a book enjoying the cool morning breeze and the sound of the waves breaking on the beach. I am a slow reader. Reading is not something that comes easy to me... but I have almost finished Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz since I have been down here. There are several things that Don said in this book that I am really connecting with on this vacation. Here are a few:

1. Our "behavior" will not be changed long with self-discipline, but fall in love and a human will accomplish what he never thought possible. By accepting God's love for us, we fall in love with Him, and only then do we have the fuel we need to obey. WOW! What an incredible truth. I don't need to be a better person... I just need to fall in love with Jesus... and then I will naturally live like he wants me to live... in obedience. I just want to fall in love with Jesus all over again. Maybe that is what this vacation is all about.

2. Don writes about talking to a friend of his during a time when he was struggling with who he had become. He told his friend that he needed to go away to find himself... and to re-connect with God. He looked at a map and said that he needed to go to a place that was green with lumpy mountains. His friend responded "Do you think God is out there somewhere in the lumpy places?" I am beginning to believe that the "real me" is in the blue wavy places.

3. There is something quite beautiful about the Grand Canyon at night. There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing. (They hang there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz.) No matter how many times... or how long I stare at the ocean or look up into that same starlit night sky... I am still absolutely blown away by it all. I am still amazed. It reminds me of the expanse of God's love for me... for us. How deep... how wide... is His love for us? It is beyond anything that we can possibly wrap our little minds around.

Again... I hope to finish the book in the morning.

Well... April and I went on our bike ride this morning. I still wasn't feeling all that great from the sunburn the night before... but it felt pretty good to get out. It was incredibly windy out on the beach. Riding south... the wind was in our faces. What a workout! It was like peddling uphill all the way. We went as far as we could and decided to turn around an head back to the house. With the wind to our backs... it almost felt like we were coasting home. What a difference a tailwind makes.


Tonight... we went into Charleston to eat at a great little seafood place called "Charleston Crab House".
We ate there last year and April had "all you can eat" crab legs. Great stuff! This year... they said that they don't do the "all you can eat" thing anymore. I guess April shut 'em down last year. And she was so ready for those legs too!

Yes... they meant to hang the sign upside down.




When we got back to the house... we settled in to watch the premiere of "High School Musical 2" with the kids. While we were watching TV... we spotted a little "critter" sneaking around out on the back porch. It was a "sea squirrel"! (OK... so there's no such thing as a "sea squirrel") This little guy was so brave. Abby left a few "goldfish" (you know... the crackers) out on the porch and he came right up next to us to eat them. It was almost like he was posing for the camera too. Pretty cool!





Well... "High School Musical 2" is almost over and we are planning on making our trip to the beach again for crab watching. So I had better go for now. More tomorrow!