Reflections on Foundations

     I grew up in a small town near the coast in New Jersey called Point Pleasant (the Boro, not the Beach). It's a place where, whether in the ocean or your backyard pool, you learn to swim almost before you can walk (though I was a bit of a late bloomer with this). It's also a place where crabbing, boarding and carefully navigating pebble-filled sand in bare-feet are normal life skills and sarcasm is basically the first taught language. It's close enough to the city to enjoy Manhattan, but far enough to have clean beach water in which to spend your summer living. Most people have a dog, a bike, play soccer and if you're not Italian, Polish or Irish in some way, your next-door neighbor surely is. In spring, summer and early autumn the air smells of grills, hot pavement, suntan lotion, cigarettes and salt air. Some things, of course, have started to change with time, but maybe because I don't reside here anymore, for me the core is always the same. We're loud, suburban, family-oriented and have dry orange skin. It's wonderful, really.

     My favorite place on the planet lays just a mile from my hometown and is actually where our main street ends. If you're on Bridge Ave, just keep heading east until the earth ends and the sea begins and you'll find the beach at Bay Head. It is somehow always beautiful here, even when it's storming. It's quiet and peaceful and you feel so close to who you really are and who the Creator is that it might actually be the best place for thinking on the planet.

     I often feel the need to come back here when life is sifting and scenes are changing or moving on. It's where I let God remind me who I am and who He has called me to be. It's where I can breathe a deep sigh of relief and lay myself back into His hands, because in this place, for me, His love is so generous and so strong and so obvious.    
     I am thankful for this life He's given me, as ever changing and at times, confusing, it may be. It's His story over my life and that's the only story I'm truly interested in living. I'm also so thankful for warm and sunny April afternoons where life seems quiet and all is well, even if just for a moment. Today reminded me of the firm foundation I am building upon and what else could I ask for, really?