Oceans

by Pastor Karen Runjo

Australians flock to beaches. We flock there on holidays and on public holidays. We flock there to live; great mobs of our population clinging to the coastlines of our beautiful island nation. Why the ocean? I don’t know about you, but I do love to walk on the beach and to sit staring out over it as I pray. Why do we love the beach? Well, there’s waves. They are pretty fun and their constant ebb and flow motion calms contrasting anxiousness. There’s also this great expanse before us, stretching beyond where the eye can see that I think shrinks problems into perspective simply with its immense proportions. The sun also glistens life off the surface of the water – making everything feel alive and full of potential.

Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…(v7) The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress…(v10) He says: “Be still and know that I am God…”

Prayer thought:

Visit the beach! Spend some time staring out to sea, soaking in the immensity of the water, the power of the waves, the life teeming beneath its surface and become aware of the God who created and sustains it - and us all.