Folly Beach

Well, Sabbatical has officially begun! It's hard to believe that after 2 years of waiting, it is finally here. One feeling has overcome me: tired. I rarely sleep on airplanes, but that's all I did as I flew across the country yesterday to South Carolina. Sleep, sleep and more sleep. I have a feeling that may be one of the main themes this week.

I am staying in a little beach town called Folly Beach, South Carolina just outside of Charleston. I'm here with Todd Holdridge and Brian Morgan, friends from Fuller Seminary days. These boys have been God's grace to me throughout the past 12 years. We have laughed, cried, celebrated, and mourned together in the deepest of ways. It is so good to be with them again.

We started our day reading Celtic Devotions by Calvin Miller. The first day is all about how Jesus Christ is at the center of everything: all of creation, all of our lives. What a wonderful reminder as we head out to the beach today: all things are created by him and for him. All friendship, all beauty, all waves, all birds, all of life by Jesus.

Here is the opening prayer for this day:
It were as easy for Jesu
To renew the withered tree
As to wither the new
Were it His will so to do
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesu! meet it were to praise Him.

There is no plant in the ground
But is full of His virtue,
There is no form in the strand
But is full of His blessing.
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesu! meet it were to praise Him.

There is no life in the sea,
There is no creature in the river,
There is naught in the firmament,
But proclaims His goodness.
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesu! meet it were to praise Him.

There is no bird on the wing,
There is no star in the sky,
There is nothing beneath the sun,
But proclaims His goodness.
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesu! meet it were to praise Him.

-Carmina Gadelica

My you find Christ at the center of all you do and are today.