Skip to main content

Beach Debris

On a beautiful, breezy Saturday morning, a group of church members banded together at a local beach near Melbourne, Florida to begin cleaning up the beach. They posted their church flags at the entrance to the beach, donned their shirts "Give Your Faith Flight", and most importantly put on gloves and off they went. From cigarette butts to an old buoy, these families collected trash. As the beach waves rolled in, large planes could be seen flying in and out of a large air force base nearby. Dolphins were seen jumping in and out of the water, seagulls were desperately searching for food, and residents were enjoying the sun after a season of winter. What a beautiful day and what a beautiful beach.

Isn't it interesting that at such a beautiful beach, there is so much trash? I couldn't help but think about the picture in my mind of my own life. What is on the outside, is not what God is looking at or really interested in. He is looking at the possible cast nets, old fishing wire, and debris that litters my heart. What attempts have I truly made to pick up the trash in my own life? What does my heart look like after letting beach goers in without placing trash bins around? How often have i tried to pick up a piece here and there, but I have not made a definite commitment to do a "walk-a-bout" each day and make sure I cleaned out the debris. Because of that, my beautiful heart may mimic a scene of chaos with junk scattered all over the shore line. It doesn't just affect me though. Just as trashed shore lines can affect the marine life nearby, so my littered heart can affect all those around me. The cost can be great as it seeps into and steals my happiness, peace, and even my soul.

Isaiah 45:18 says "For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos, "I am the Lord", he says, "and there is no other".

The time comes in our life when we realize that the debris is too high, the waves are too close, and if we don't stop running and clean up our hearts, our lives will continue to be empty and in shambles. Maybe it seems too late, but isn't it great that we don't have to clean up the trash on our own? We are never alone. He walks along side us as we pick up the big buoys and the small cigarette butts and place them into a big bucket. He takes the buckets from our hands, gives us a water and a hand sanitizer and says he will take it from here.

God Bless!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Failure is a Gift

 I sat in the room, nervous. I had sensed this moment coming all week. Though I felt a small comfort and peace, deep inside, I was terrified. I was bracing for the letdown—far from my first. I made small talk with someone twenty years my junior, knowing that soon, he would ask me to step down. That reality was hard to face. My mind drifted back to my first year as a deputy. I had called my father repeatedly, distressed over my fifth write-up. Each time, he told me to thank them for the discipline, not to quit, and to keep my head up. But I was overcome with sorrow. I felt like a failure. Maybe I could earn straight A’s, but I had no common sense. I feared I would never catch on. I was beginning to give up. Still, my dad insisted I keep going. In my first week alone, I had discharged my weapon—firing over sixteen rounds at a bull on Super Bowl Sunday. Not long after, I found myself in a full-blown foot pursuit of an escapee, my face, mostly pride battered from the struggle. My track...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Weapon is a Melody

Every day can be a battle. A battle for our hearts, a battle for our minds, a battle to discourage, a battle to get out of bed, a battle to be content in whatever state we are in, a battle to bless God even in the darkest times. Satan seeks to crush and destroy us. When we are so focused on our own pain and battles, we are less useful. Think of a nice shiny car, but with a broken hose. This small hose can cause the entire car to be out of commission. This too is how Satan works in our life. He may sit back and watch us break with the smallest hose. That is all he needs to put us out of service. Many of us have been out of service for quite some time. This is because we have so focused on goals or things that may be outside our purpose. How do we fight battles in our life and overcome them? What should our only purpose be? Praise and worshiping God. That is it. God is constantly seeking out people who just want to worship Him. We constantly ask for blessings in our life, but how many ...
30 comments
Read more

Heart Attack

Valentine’s Day is approaching. It’s easy to love those who are kind to us, but what about those who are cruel? How do we love a bully? It takes a conscious effort to show kindness to someone who has deeply hurt us. But when we learn to love even those who have wronged us—without waiting for an apology—we are truly attacking the heart . This kind of love isn’t normal. It’s outrageous. It means wiping the slate clean, deleting the post , starting over—not for ourselves, but to please God. That’s it. We know that God has forgiven our wickedness, so why can’t we forgive others? This is a love that brings true reward. We often think we practice this kind of love, but do we really? The next time someone enters a room—the very person you’d rather avoid—what will you do? What if God led you to walk up to them and bless them? Would you do it for Jesus? The Cost of Heartache We demand payment for heartaches. We take people to court, punish, divorce, fight, and even kill over them. This has been...
Post a Comment
Read more