Visiting Jupiter

My family and I went down to Jupiter, Florida today to visit our cousins Rachel and Jason and their son, Austin. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we had the best time down there. In our family, we try to see a variety of wild life on our trips and every bigger trip we've taken as a family (Monterey Bay minus Eli, St. Augustine, the Brevard Zoo, and now Jupiter), we've seen some interesting animals.

After playing six hours (?) of a video game with Jason and the girls giggling all night, us adults joined the baby boys in sleep. We ate a hardy breakfast at Too Jays (thanks again, Jason!), and it was on to the sea turtle awareness/rehab center. Before entering there, we six visited the gorgeous dark sands and aqua-colored water that made up their beach. This is where Eli first touched the cool ocean water, and he even joined Austin in playing in the sand.

Post-beach we headed to the center to be awed at the center's kindness to take in these sea strays. There was one in particular that made me hold out hope for these defenseless beauties. His name was Jonah, and his tale is that he was spit out of a fish that was caught by fishermen, all while he was just a hatchling. He came in weighing around an ounce and is currently just under eight pounds. His name is derived from the fact that he was spit out by a "large fish."

I'll not claim to know the first testament very well; a sad fact for someone who loves God so very much. But, as most of us know the story of the Biblical Jonah, he disobeyed the Lord and tried to flee from God's command for him to call against the Ninevites. This was a wicked and unruly people, and yet God cared enough for them to send a servant to proclaim His name. When I think of this challenge for Jonah, it troubles me to think of what I would have done: go to these people and probably be killed, or flee the presence of the Lord, repent another later, and maybe get away to see another day. Honesty clings to me like my skin, so I say I would lean toward the latter answer.

Why am I sticking a Sunday school lesson in the middle of a great sea turtle story? The reason, my friends, is because we all need wake up calls when God is concerned. We can see through every facet of our Creator's work and see His glory, His beauty, and His everlasting mercy to a people who fell and should have been left to perish...but were brought back to life by a Son of the Most High.



If you've known me for long, you know I'll use any excuse to talk about God, and here's yet another reason. Staring down in that shallow pool was my son, being held by his loving mother. I saw more than that picture today. I saw a love that can't be broken, shattered, lost or forgotten. I also saw a turtle who should have been killed so many times but lived to make my family (and countless others) smile. Finally, I saw grace extended to all of us who fear and love our Savior.

It's a terribly pressing thing, this love. When you get a hold of it, you never want to let it go. More powerfully, when He gets a hold of us, He will never let us go.