People who love the beach fall into two camps: ocean-lovers and lake-lovers. The choice seems to be rooted in childhood, as most things are, whether we end up loving one or the other. I’m a lake person, but that’s because I grew up on Lake Michigan’s shores.

{Before continuing, know that this blog might make you ocean-lovers angry. Please put your sandals on, set your pre-conceived ideas aside and let’s practice being open-minded. At least you should be.}

Ocean people can’t believe anyone would prefer a small lake over a mighty ocean, but they haven’t seen the size of a giant like Lake Michigan. For all practical purposes, it looks exactly like an ocean. Its horizon stretches indefinitely, and no one can see across to the other side.

Oceans have a great deal more wildlife living in them than lakes do, but that’s not necessarily an advantage. Who needs sting rays with their fatal barbs feeding in the shallow water when you’re trying to wade? And who wants crabs and crawfish snapping at your toes? Here on Sanibel Island today, a vacationing man fishing in waist-deep water caught a baby shark. It was non-threatening, despite a full set of double-teeth, but no one asked my question: “Was its mother nearby?”

Lake Michigan may not readily yield enough big fish for dinner, but there are none that can hurt swimmers, either. Floating out deep with arms and legs dangling over the edge of a blow-up raft is no problem. Although there are some big fish in the lake, they hang in water so deep they can hardly be caught and would never bother a swimmer.

And how about the ocean’s salt-factor? What fun is it to swim in water that hurts your eyes? Last time I swam in an ocean I came out only to find salt crystallizing on my skin, then tightening, then itching. Being in need of a shower immediately after a swim to wash off the experience doesn’t make any sense.

Lake Michigan’s water is so clean a person can drink it, and we have. A swim leaves you refreshed, and if someone got lost 25 miles from shore, dehydration wouldn’t be a problem. In the ocean, a drink would only increase thirst, not to mention make you go crazy. It wouldn’t taste very good, either.

I can think of only one advantage oceans have over lakes: better surfing. Unless body surfing qualifies, Lake Michigan swimmers are at a distinct disadvantage. Ocean-lovers win on that score. Their waves can be massive with the power that surfers crave. (I won’t mention they’re so powerful they might kill you.)

Ocean-lovers point to the beauty of their shells. We lake-lovers see just as much splendor in our stones. Although ocean beaches claim to have the silkiest sand in the world made from ground-down shells, if you walk too close to the water line, you’d better have your sandals on or you might get wounded by stepping on a broken shell. Lake Michigan sand may not be silky, but it squeaks when you walk on it, and its rounded stones would never cut a bare foot. The sand also curves to your body shape when its time for a beach nap, unlike ocean sand that’s hard enough to bear up under the wheels of a car.

So, all you ocean-lovers, don’t get mad; just get even, and make your case! And as you do…..
”Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.” (Hebrews 12:14)

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when God created the sun, but of course there weren’t any flies then or, for that matter, walls. It must have been spectacular, though, as he brought into being this most important light “to rule the day.”

Here in the Florida tropics the sun rules beautifully from an azure sky. As a widow for five winter months, I’ve had a hard time watching daylight fade each day, knowing darkness would follow. Spring’s longer daylight and sunnier skies seem especially encouraging this year.

But I’ve always loved the sun, not just because it brings warmer weather and prettier sunsets but to sit beneath, as in sun-bathe. Although we need vitamin D, too much sun becomes destructive. It causes skin cancer, age spots and wrinkles, and I’m a walking testimony to all of that.

So I’ve tried to analyze what it is about sitting in the sun that captivates me. It has very little to do with getting a tan, although in my younger years it was all about that. We sat with mirrors or tin foil, doubling the power of our sunning time. And if the sun wasn’t shining, we used an indoor sun lamp, burning ourselves to blisters again and again.

Now that I’m older (and supposedly wiser), a suntan isn’t that important, yet the sun still draws me. Why is that? Part of the attraction is its link with happy family beach trips as a child. Then as a young married couple, Nate and I saved for three years before taking a road trip in our tiny Fiat to Florida… and the beach. After that, when we had children, beach trips were the perfect combination of sunshine, sand and water to guarantee family fun for every age.

So this week, here we are again, enjoying Florida’s sun and beach, although with my open facial wounds, I must stay covered. But reading or writing under a sunny sky still holds more appeal than sitting inside, even though friends have said, “Some day you’ll be sorry, ‘cause you’ll look old before your time.”

They were right about the old-before-your-time part, but not about the being-sorry. Growing up on beaches and outdoors instilled a deep appreciation for the wonders of God’s world. It increased my awe-factor toward the Creator, and in a mysterious way, sunshine figures into it. I can even understand how ancient people took it one step too far and worshipped the sun.

Of course all of us can turn appreciation into obsession, and we often do. God gives us a world full of good gifts, and we take them to extremes, transforming good to bad… as in over-doing our sun-time. There is one thing we can’t spoil by overdoing it, however, and that’s appreciating God. We can’t worship him too much, love him too much, bring him too much or depend on him too much. He willingly receives it all, even if it’s anger, disappointment, failure… or sin. He’s for us, which includes the good, the bad and the ugly.

Scripture tells us in heaven there won’t be any dark nights during which we’re looking out the window, longing for the sun to rise. God’s Son himself will light the new heaven and earth, and the sun as we know it won’t be needed. But the Bible doesn’t say there won’t be one. Since God created the sun for the first earth and called it “good”, my guess is he’ll make a new one to shine on the new earth, too. If so, I plan to sit beneath it, increasing my awe-factor toward God just as I’m doing today. I just hope I won’t have to wear the hat.

We are not to be “high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” (1 Timothy 6:17)

Last year at this time Nate and I were packing our bags to travel to England. Hans and Katy’s firstborn, Nicholas Carl, was going to be christened, and we were eagerly looking forward to participating.

The time we spent with our shirt-tail relatives in northern England was delightful, and since I got to stay an extra week, grandma-time was abundant. It’s not easy having grandchildren so far from home, especially when there’s an ocean between us. Spending a big chunk of time being involved in Nicholas’ life was rewarding, not to mention the fun of being with Hans and Katy. Soon I’ll go back to cuddle newborn twins.

Last Easter we stayed with Katy’s parents, always gracious hosts, and slept in the bedroom they’d allowed Hans to use for many weeks before he married their daughter in the summer of 2007. We got to know Hans’ “other family” better, pleased at how warmly Sarah and Cliff have embraced their son-in-law.

While we were there, all of us visited several tourist sights, one of which included a complicated maze of thick hedges eight feet tall. The idea was to follow the curves and turns, many of which were dead ends, to eventually arrive in the middle. It wasn’t easy, and although none of us succeeded that day, we had some good laughs trying, and also hollering for each other over the bushes.

The well-trimmed hedges made me think of the scriptural principle of God “hedging us in” from harm. The famous story of the Old Testament character Job tells of how he was hedged in so well he prospered in every category of his life. At least that’s what Satan thought when he talked to God about breaking through that wall of protection. The devil complained that such a shield from harm wouldn’t allow Job’s faith to be tested. We know the story of how God “opened the hedge” for Satan, confident Job’s faith wouldn’t fail.

But how did Job feel, while hedged in by God? He tells us: “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” (3:23) Job didn’t like it!

The hedge maze we walked through in England had its disadvantages, too. Although no one could see us through the thick greenery if we’d wanted to hide, we couldn’t see them either or find our way to the center. And if we got going too fast along the path and bumped into the bushes, they poked and hurt.

Maybe Job experienced similar frustrations with his being hedged in from satanic harm. He did get his chance, however, to experience the absence of God’s hedge, and the result was torturous.

I’ve often asked the Lord to hedge in my children from evil and harm. Until I experienced the big, stiff hedge bushes in England, it never occurred to me that being hedged in might feel badly. When I pray fervently for the kids, more often than not the circumstances of their lives get worse before they get better. Could that be God’s removal of the hedge to allow testing into their lives? After studying Job’s example, I think it is.

Sometimes God’s provisions, structured for our gain, feel like prickles or punishments, much like the poking branches of a bush-hedge. When we feel life’s bristles, though, it might simply mean we’re bumping up against God’s protection. A really strong hedge might even have thorns in it. But we ought to be careful about trying to remove it, learning from Job’s example that nothing good is waiting on the other side.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.” (Job 1:9-10)