At the Bottom of the Ocean...

Today is our daughter's 12th birthday! She and I celebrated by taking a last minute trip to the coast. We had a wonderful time being together. We had Starbucks (way too much - haha), played on the beach and collected shells, watched the sunset, went shopping and enjoyed just being at the ocean.

At Pebble Beach, kelp had washed up on shore. Much of it was laying on huge rocks by the road. As we climbed down these rocks to get to the sand, I showed Emilee the kelp. I explained to her one of the most precious things God has made...a "holdfast". Since my life verse is Joshua 22:5, a few years ago I looked at the deeper meaning of "holdfast to him". At the bottom of the kelp is a round bulb. Hanging from the base of the bulb is a root-like structure called a holdfast. The job of this structure is to fasten itself to a rock at the bottom of the ocean in order to keep the whole kelp anchored in the water. When God calls us to "holdfast to him", we are to wrap ourselves around him and hang on....never ever letting go. We are to anchor ourselves onto THE ROCK! I couldn't believe the parallels when I studied this. It is precious to me now! Anytime I am at the beach, I am reminded of this sweet analogy God has given me. I wanted Emilee to understand that no matter what life is....messy or not....no matter where we find ourselves in this world....we are to holdfast to the Lord and know that He will always be our Rock, our Savior, our Friend.

Love you friends! May we continually walk holding fast and tight to the Hand that gives us Life!