Relax

For the last few days, I have been sitting on the beach in Florida. I'm doing everything I can to learn how to relax. I'm at the beach with a couple of families, including my pastor and his family. My pastor has been very particular with me this week about the meaning of Sabbath and learning how to take time to recharge. My computer and phone are often confiscated during the day and I am not allowed to study my non-fiction "social justice" books, but rather, delve into light-hearted fiction novels. I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm reading a Christian romance about how a man chooses to marry a prostitute (Redeeming Love, anybody?). Anyway, it's been great to be here, and I can tell that my body has been desperately in need of a break. I'm catching up on a lot of much-needed sleep and trying to recover from three insane months, or maybe years.

I took Travis (6) and Clark (4) to the beach with me yesterday. We collected all the sea shells we could find. I'm actually not sure if there are any sea shells left on the beach for the other kids. After a while I sat down in the sand and let myself soak in the beauty of the water, the serenity of the breeze, the pure joy of digging my toes and fingers into the cool, white sand underneath.

Earlier in the day, Clark was in the hottub when an older man came in. "Guess what?" Clark asked the old man. "What?" he said. "Did you know that God is in the bubbles of this hot tub? Because God is everywhere," he said confidently. It's a good reminder that God isn't all about the hard work - about working so hard that we can't even realize the beauty that He has created in this world. I typically find God in the mountains, but I'm beginning to like seeing him at the beach, as well.

Here we are on the beach. I didn't get the white t-shirt, khaki pants memo...



Here are the three Brown kiddos...



Jena