The Beach Reach Post

So. The beach.

Guess what?

I don't really like the beach.


Don't get me wrong, the beach is not a bad place to be. Sometimes you do need to hear the waves and recharge your vitamin D levels, but I consider the heat unbearable, sand annoying and the salt in the ocean just plain gross.

But where did I end up for spring break?

.......the beach.

Panama City nonetheless. Our BCM went and joined other college campuses with the intent of giving rides to the college students down there (most of them were drunk to some degree.....), feeding them and ultimately sharing the gospel story with them. I have to say, there is so much to tell that I will be breaking this up into several posts.

First things first though, one of the things that this trip reiterated for me was the importance of obeying the Lord. Signing up for this trip was a bit easier when it was so far away and I was sure that God wanted me to go. This assurance, even thought doubts came, still stayed the same. You see, God knows that I don't like the beach, that the sleep deprived schedule we had is not something I work well with and that talking to drunk college kids is not  my choice of ministry, or even something that I'm good at. He just knows these things.

Yet He asks me to do them anyway.

Anyway. 

How humbling is that? Let me tell you, I had to pray through for real a lot of bitterness weeks before we even left.

I came though, I obeyed. Because why? Because I know that He is bigger than me, that He probably had something up His sleeve, that He wanted to teach me things and that He can work in spite of me even when I simply don't believe He can.

Because He's just. that. good.

"Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,

    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

The LORD builds up Jerusalem; 

   he gathers the exiles of Israel. 

He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars

    and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

    his understanding has no limit.

 The LORD sustains the humble

    but casts the wicked to the ground....

He covers the heavens with clouds, 

prepares the rain for the earth, 

makes grass grow on the hills...

the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, 

in those who hope in his steadfast love."

Psalms 147:1-6,8 &11