by Deborah Hunter

Created on: April 25, 2008   Last Updated: April 28, 2008

I love the beach. I love everything about it. I love the sun in my face the breeze off the ocean and even the sand. The beach is like the perfect place of peace for me. However even at the beach danger is always present.

I remember being at the beach last summer just enjoying the atmosphere. Children were running in and out of the water squealing at the waves as they rushed into the beach. Suddenly my serenity was interrupted by screams for help. Looking out into the water I noticed a young girl. Her arms were flailing around wildly. Her head would disappear under the waves then reappear. Her cries for help were heard by the life guards who dragged their boat into the water and beginning rowing swiftly in her direction. Upon reaching her they swiftly lifted her into the boat and rowed back to shore. Once on the beach she jumped out of the boat, thanked the life guards and went right back into the water with her friends.

As I watched the scene I wondered what I can learn from this. What is God trying to show me? Then the verse came to my head have the faith of a child. I thought about it. Even though the young lady had actually been in danger that did not stop her from having fun with her friends. She had faith that the life guards were there to protect and help her. Even though a few minutes ago she could have drowned, she felt secure enough to go back into the water.

It made me think about God. God tells us to call on him in our time of need. Why don't we? This girl had more faith in the life guard than we have in the most high God. When she was in need she called. God tells to call and he will answer. This girl expected her calls for help to be answered. When we call to God do we really expect God to answer us or do we just call out of habit or because we do not know what else to say. If we were doing something that we thought was good and it did not turn out the way we wanted it to would we try again or would we just give up. I am sure this girl did not expect to be in a position where she would have to be rescued when she started playing in the water with her friends. But she did not let that stop her. There are times when we feel that God has called us to do something. We step out and things don't go exactly the way we though it would go. We call for help and we are rescued. What do we do next? Do we just sit on the beach or do we go out and try again. Unfortunately when God tells us to do something he does not always tell us exactly how to do it. I guess he wants us to think a little for our selves. Also I believe when God tells us to do something he knows that we already have what it takes inside of us to complete the task that he has given us. And he is our back up. If we do get into trouble along the way we can always called to him for help and he will answer us.

I guess I learned from that young girl not to give up. When you are doing something that we enjoy or something that God has called us to do we should not let set backs stop us. We should be persistent, giving up may cause us to miss out on what God has planned for us.

Learn more about this author, Deborah Hunter.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.