An Illustration of Faithfulness.

Last Thursday at the beach I woke up before sunrise. On purpose. By nature I'm a night owl who breaks free from the bondage of the alarm clock whenever I get the opportunity, but there is just something about being at the beach on the East coast. Witnessing the sun rise over the ocean can be like church for me. Creation at its best. One day I want to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic and then immediately take a plane to the West coast to watch the sun set over the Pacific. It would be like summer revival in the South...two services in one day.

Around 6:45 on Thursday my alarm sounded. I proceeded to find my glasses, stumble out of bed, grab my camera and headed out to the balcony to wait. For this:

Really?!? I wake up at o-dark-thirty on a vacation day for this? Clouds. Grey. Gloom. I was hoping for a little more. A little disappointed and frustrated I headed straight back to bed.

And now for the questions: How often do we prepare for something with a high level of anticipation that is created around an expectation that we have? How often are we disappointed when reality doesn't measure up to said expectation? I can't speak for you three, but I've been known to do this once or twice [a day]. It happens with jobs (that time I interviewed for a job at Vanderbilt and didn't get it), vacations (that time there was no real snow during the ski trip) , meals (that time you got food poisoning), relationships (that time I dated a rocket scientist), gifts (that time there wasn't any money in the birthday card from grandma), homes (that time somebody made a lower offer on the house you really wanted). Of course the level of frustration or disappointment varies according to the level of investment. How easy is it for our faith to get shaken once we experience disappointment? Who remains faithful even when we don't? [Answer: "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Timothy 2:13]

Saturday was our last day at the beach. Once again I set my alarm to wake up early, but I wasn't exactly psyching myself up to actually get out of bed once it sounded. Sure enough when I heard that dreadful noise on Saturday morning, I immediately hit snooze. But then I heard somebody else moving around which led me conclude that we were being robbed given the rest of my family sleeps like the dead. No worries, it was just mom. The curtains were open and I could see the beginnings of something beautiful. I made it out to the balcony in time to witness this:

Question: If God can use the same canvas to paint such a different picture in a matter of 48 hours, what can he do in our lives and through our circumstances? The contrast in these two pictures lead me to believe that it's something beyond our wildest imagination. Sure, it's hard to believe it until we actually see it for ourselves. I am so thankful that he provides us with reminders such as this along the way.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" -Ephesians 3:23