Broken Shells

We are home from the beach.  It was the best family vacation I can ever remember with my wife’s family.  I had very little stress this year.  The boys behaved, for the most part, better than they have in a while.  My wife even behaved for a change….haha, just kidding.  She is always on her best behavior.

What changed from past years?  Why was this year different?  Why didn’t I start planning on how to get back to work by day 3 like I normally do?

The answer is very simple.  God had us in the palm of His hands.

2 days ago I was walking around on the beach.  It had finally warmed up enough for us to all get outside.  The boys and their cousins were playing in the water, my brother-in-law was scavenging the beach for sea creatures…..which he always seems to find.  I was looking down at all the shells….and thinking about years past.

This year my whole family has changed.  We are now aware of God’s awesome presence and power.  I believe He has always been there, but until this year we weren’t in tune with His plan…..with the peace that He offers once we turn our lives truly over to Him.

I started looking at the shells……they were all broken…..shattered…..there were no complete, perfect shells anywhere on the beach.  Like our lives, the shells have been broken by the forces of nature.  They have been smashed into the shore by powerful waves.  In fact, the sand I walked on used to be made of beautiful shells, but after so much of life’s circumstances they have been crushed into fine particles.  I thought, “Wow….that is so much similar to our lives.”  But then I thought, “That’s what the cross is for.  Jesus came down, took away all our shame….all of our pain…..picked up all of our broken pieces and put them back together again.  We are all made whole again by the Grace of Jesus Christ.

As The Message Bible so plainly states, “God, pick up the pieces.  Put me back together again.  You are my praise! (Jeremiah 17:14.)”

So I began picking up these shells; broken shells, small shells, big shells, shells that were almost perfect.  I wanted a way to commemorate the changes that my family has gone through in the last year.  I already was beginning to form in my mind a project I wanted to attempt……but I needed some wood.  I tried to find driftwood, but there really wasn’t any on this beach.  As I was walking back to the house and had about given up for the day I stumbled across and old dried up, hardened palm frond.  And with that, I knew I had all the material I needed.

After we got home today, unpacked, picked the dogs up from the puppy hotel I went out to my shop and began my project.  And the picture above is the result of my work.  I’m not very crafty, not very creative when it comes to projects like these, but I pieced together something that will definitely remind me of my family’s journey.

That palm frond I found, which so ironically was what was laid in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, now holds all of those shells I found.  All of those broken shells on that cross symbolize the false “control” I had over my life, the pain, the emptiness, the confusion……all of those things we were going through last year.  And Jesus, on that cross, took all of those things away.

God’s Grace is so amazing.  I know I have said it so many times before, and I’m sure I will continue to say it, but once you let go and let God take control…..your life will change.  Doors will open, you will end up in places you never dreamed could happen.  This time last year we hadn’t even thought about moving, we hadn’t even thought about changing schools for the boys, we hadn’t even thought about this new church we attend now.  Me, a theology major, haha.  A mission trip in the near future.  My wife and son Saved?  Our lives were heading down a completely different road.  But clearly, we were on the wrong road.  We had taken a wrong turn.

While at the beach, I snuck out one afternoon and saw Paul the Apostle.  I won’t spoil it for those who have yet to see it….but I will say one thing.  I have never seen a truer illustration of God’s Grace until that day.  I know what the cross means.  I know what Jesus’ death made possible.  But I had never seen what it actually all really meant……until that afternoon in that theater.

We are all a broken shell.  We are not perfect….nowhere near.  And we sure don’t deserve what God did for us…….but He did it anyway.  Grace.  It’s an amazing thing.  And my project I have been working on over the past few days will now be a reminder when times may get tough, when things may not go our way, that God is always there.  God has already saved us, made us whole, and we have nothing else to worry about.

Thanks to God, I look forward to going on vacation with my family again.  In fact, I already miss all of them and wish we had more time together.  Until next year…….