Life, like a beach!

A couple weeks ago, I was headed to the beach to have some me&God time. As I drove there, I noticed rain clouds to the east, and thought to myself, maybe I should turn around. I hoped it was not raining at the beach. I began to pray and ask God to please let the sun be shining at the beach. As I drove through the cloudy area, I thought to myself, that this scenario is so much like life. We head out in the direction that God is calling and we face storms, we face dark skies, we face clouds. But in order to reach the destination God is wanting us to get to, we have to keep going, we can not give up, we can not turn around, we have to keep going towards the goal and through the storm. I kept driving and as I hit AIA, I could see ahead that the sky was gorgeous, there was sunshine, no clouds. It was a beautiful beach day. I set up my chair on the ocean's edge and was so glad that I did not turn around!

This past weekend, I had the same experience...Thursday was a tough day, a cloudy day. But I have seen many a tough day and knew that I had to keep going. On Friday night, the Life Development ministries (Preschool, Children and Student) hosted a volunteer appreciation dinner called Ovations and it was such a great time. We had over 250 volunteers attend and we were able to pour into their lives by encouraging and entertaining them for all they do each weekend. Then Saturday morning, Garland and I met with the High School mission team bright and early at Starbucks. Bob Selecky joined the group as Garland prepares the team to get ready to go minister to the people in Peru and visit our campus - FRC Lima! I was then blessed by Lili to be able to accompany some middle and high school girls to a fashion show at Signature Grand, it was so much fun! The weekend services at FRC were great and then the finale of an evening was Beach Baptism and the concert at Hollywood beach.

Not only did I get to hang out with students and family, but I was given the privilege to baptize Nina! Nina is a lady that I met at Starbucks back in December. I invited her to church and then one weekend as I stood in the front for a pastor moment, she came forward. When I was in Starbucks a couple weeks ago, she was so excited to tell me that she was getting baptized at the next Beach Baptism. As I stood in the water and looked into the crowd, I saw her waving at me, Wow! And Matt, BJ and I had the awesome privilege of baptizing her.

Life has it's tough times, it's cloudy days, but what if I would have turned back, given up. I would not have been given the opportunity to witness the power of God.

The power of God as I sit at the shoreline.

The power of God as I watch a life change.

The power of God as He grows and stretches my faith.

I will not relent, I will not give up, I will keep driving through the clouds to the beach. But, Lord, I can not do it without you or your strength!

Thank you for an awesome weekend! Thank you for not giving up on me!