"Can we see the ocean?" she asks ... in the dark of a predawn morning.
And it's raining.
I love the logic of a seven year old.
"Aside from the dark and the rain," I say as we drive, "I don't see why not?"
So we drove down front, which is the big parking lot on Tybee Island that separates the sea from Fannie-on-the-Beach and Spankeys. She unbuckles her seat belt so that she can sit on her knees and peer into the vastness of a new day being created by God.
I roll the window down and it thunders.
Laurel's eyes grow huge and she wraps herself in her "blanky".
We meander back to Butler Avenue and see that Sam and the boys are already setting up the equipment for Bar Church. We'll join then in a couple of hours and I think a thought that I haven't thought in years. Decades! It was a stupid thought but I thought it anyway.
I hope it stops raining so people will come to church.
"Christ Jesus," I say out loud.
"What," she asked?
"Oh it's really nothing," I answered.
Here we are, watching God again declare, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let there be" ... ISLANDS! God was showing off a bit with the thunder on a warm February morning and the rain made it more dramatic. The holy acts of creation are exploding around us. People are making ready for worship, giving of themselves in the unselfish acts of making ready for others.
I laugh again at myself.
I hope it stops raining so people will come to church.
How lame is that?
The last time I prayed that lame prayer was when I was a "Professional Christian" in Louisville, Kentucky. I'd think such stupid thoughts. Now Laurel and I are watching God give us all another day to do what we will and ... I cared about numbers.
Damn Southern Baptists!
"Hey," Laurel asks turning up the radio, "can we see more of the high tides?"
"Absolutely," I say as we drive to the Back River.
Whoever shows up for Church today is supposed to be there. And God will say that It is good.
And whoever doesn't show up ... well God will probably say that It is good too.
She's a lot less demanding than the rest of us.
