God is Alive

Vacations are a necessity. How often is it that we give our minds a break from the billion miles per hour they go a day? There's always something. Vacation is a chance for us to catch up on just random things. For example, I read a magazine for the sole benefit of escaping reality. I put my ipod in to just fall asleep to something other than a list of things to do the next day running through my head. I painted my nails to take the time of caring for myself. And I spent time with friends to remember that I don't live this life just for me.

I just got back from a vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama with 6 other girls. A nice vacation and time to just think.

Just. Think.

And observe.

And witness.

And be.

I took my "dream morning" one morning. And by "dream morning" I mean this is what I would do if I could start every morning like this. I woke up at 7 and took a morning jog on the beach. The sun was rising. Only a small amount of people existed. And the waves seemed to smell fresher than they do a noon. I took my ipod with me and got on my jogging shoes while everyone else was still asleep in the condo and when I got down to the beach I didn't even want my ipod. The world was only following the sound of the morning waves.

As I started running, I didn't even care how fast or how far I was going. And the people I passed every now and then made eye contact and I either got a smile or a "Good Mornin'."

And it was this sense of morning happiness, with the sea air in my lungs, that I wondered...why can't all day be like this? The people. The atmosphere. The ambition. This isn't the world that we live in. The agendas, the hurry, and the strict schedules we're forced to follow. This world was free. God existed in this world.

I felt God in each eye contact, smile, and Good Mornin' I got. And this led me to seek God through the rest of the vacation. Hanging around 7 girls can bring rough waters at times and I felt like God told me, in this world I was jogging in, to look past the quarrels and different personalities and to see that God exists in every person.

And I would like to say I did see Him. Even in times I didn't expect it. In girls I didn't expect to show it in times that they did. Little talks here and there, sharing a song together, a cry or a frustration together, even a story or a simple laugh together. God shines through all those instances in every person and its just up to us to see Him. Even when people are at their worst.

I went back to sleep after my morning run. Mainly because everyone else in the condo was still asleep and I didn't want to wake anyone up that early. But I feel back asleep with a smile on my face because I knew I just experienced a gift. A gift I wouldn't get if I lived on the coast, or went running on the beach everyday like I wished.

A gift to see what it really means when God said he made us in His image.

And that he is still alive.

meg