This blog is brought to you from the white sands of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Be very jealous.

I haven’t posted much in June, and the simple reason for that is, I’ve been on vacation, and it’s hard to blog from the beach.

Not that there is any shortage of things to write about…

The eternalness of the ocean.

The changing of the tide.

And what is this horrific new trend of two-pc. bathing suits with fringe?

I love the beach because it’s a great place for both relaxing and reflecting, if that’s your thing to do on vacation.

I love to people watch, and I’m always struck by how little the scene on the beach has changed throughout the years – kids being buried in the sand, sea gulls that fly in hordes, half-destructed sand castles, teenage boys who wander the shore like nomads with a cooler, looking for girls. There’s always that woman who is too tan – as in, three shades past, “Stop now!” Old men with gold jewelry. Uncoordinated kids trying to catch crabs. And undeniably that awkward person who, for whatever reason, is wearing socks on the beach.

I’m sitting on the beach two years after the great gulf oil spill from which Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle thought they would never recover. And the truth is, there’s barely a hint of it today.

I’m sure biologists could still find traces of the spill, but to the untrained eye, life on the beach is back to normal, with the exception of an unusual amount of seaweed in the sand.

Like so many things, life here has recovered. At the time, business owners were racked with grief – facing bankruptcy and nearly suicidal at the prospect of carrying on. Yet today, the beach thrives once again.

I am reminded by this vista how often life bounces back – events come and go, there is darkness for a season, but God ultimately brings us sunny skies once again. Like the business owners, we think life will never recover, never be the same – but it does…and it is. Time passes, things change, and people move on.

When we think things will never be the same, time shows us the power of God to redeem anything and everything for his glory. When everything is covered in black (literally) there is still the promise of white sand and turquoise water beneath it all. You have to be patient and wait for it.

I think the beach wanted you to know that.