As you may know, we just got back from a trip to the beach and made all of our rounds to see the family. It can be such a fun trip or it can be a stressful trip. For the most part, it was fun. We got to visit with all of the parents and grandparents and even spend some time on the beach just as a family. I watched all of my children as they played on the beach. They are all so different in how they act and respond to certain situations. My oldest is the cautious one, always wanting to know what to expect beforeshe ventures out too far, and even if daddy was with her in the water, she still wanted to make sure it was "safe" to go out that far. My middle one went in head first, running as fast as she
could and going out as far as she could without me yelling for her to get back.
The youngest one (my boy) was not interested in the water at all. Instead he preferred picking up the sand and throwing it at us and laughing. Eventually he started to venture out some and went into the water with daddy holding him tightly and laughed the whole time, but once he was back to shore...that is where he wanted to be.



I joked with Robbie on the drive home about how we had stopped for gas and I made all of the kids get out and go to the restroom then because I knew that once we got back in the car that we were going to be banned from stopping again. She said that she was feeling the same way...We were PRISIONERS in a car of 3 children and a husband trying to play nascar speedracer the whole 6-7 hour drive home. I never do more praying and reading my word than when I am in the car with my husband driving on a long trip. I really cry out to God in those times.

I always offer to drive, but for some reason he never wants me to.

It is always nice to get away and spend some time with your family, building memories that you know you will carry with you forever. As I took all of the trip in and looked at my family that day on the beach, I realized just how different we all are. We each have our own personalities, our own characteristics, our own ways of doing the same thing in such different ways. Just as my children took on the adventure of the beach in 3 different ways, we too take on things in different ways. Even our walk with Christ is different. Some of us are on fastforward with God...We get saved, know our calling, and run straight for the goal, and the next year we are in the mission field in Africa feeding starving children and building an orphanage. Then some of us are on a much slower pattern...we get saved, go to church, do our bible studies, read the word, help people in the community, and live our life with God evident in it. And, then there are those who may go out and test the waters some, go on a missions trip, do what God wants us to do when He calls us to do it, but we always come back home and live our Christian life here.

We all have different callings. We all have different backgrounds. We all have different ways to attack this life of Christianity. Is one better than the other? One right and one wrong? NO.

Just like my children, I love them all for exactly how they are and who they are. I laugh at how they approach things in such different ways, and love to see them at least dipping their feet in the water...BUT if they didn't ever want to touch the water and they just wanted to stay on shore and play in the sand....then I would still love them the same. We can't all be missionaries, we can't all be preachers, we can't all be sunday school teachers, we can't all be worship leaders, BUT we can all love God and do HIS will for OUR life. We have to find out what that will is and then live it out to the fullest. My son can throw some sand with all of his strength probably better than my girls can. And, if that is what he has been called to do, then let him do it.

God will plant a desire in each of our hearts to serve Him in the area that He has called us to serve, and when He does we will know it. That desire will burn in you until you start to push forward with fulfilling it. Does it mean that we will only have one calling? I don't think so. Sometimes our callings change as our seasons do. My son may not always be on the shore throwing sand, my oldest daughter may not always be so cautious with every decision that she makes in the water (although I pray she is still careful), my middle daughter may one day be the one on the shore sunbathing instead of swimming with the sharks. Our seasons change and God will use us as we grow in different areas and ways. That's what is so beautiful and amazing about Him. He loves to see us change and grow, just as we do our own children or friends or family or ourselves.

Let's bend and crawl and walk and play and throw sand for awhile.

God has a call and He has prepared us for that call.

Let's not miss the fun.

Jennifer