“You wanna get in?”
That’s all it took. Death to life. Resurrection.
We were on day 3 of a 4 day vacation to the beach. The once young and small Pearson 5 had become the adult size version. One child, a junior at college. Another child, about to start as a freshmen in college. The third child, a senior in high school. Add to the mix two middle-aged parents and you have 5 adults. A couple of us large adults. Needless to say it is different at the beach when they are older. We didn’t haul the first plastic bucket or shovel to the sand.
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I wondered if this would be the last Pearson family vacation with the OG’s. God only knows that one might fall in love soon. If/When that happens, a sixth adult will be thrown into the mix. And perhaps, if the Lord wills, two additional adults. And, if married couples do what married couples do, grandchildren. We might have another year, maybe. But before long, the original 5 going to the beach together will be no more. I know that’s how it is supposed to happen. But still, sigh.
Prior to the trip, I asked the Lord for rich moments. For memories. Fun. Laughter. Conversations. I wanted there to be a depth of family connection that our children would miss and long for. I wasn’t looking for it to be the “trip of a lifetime.” But I was asking the Father for a vacation full of lasting joy.
Day one went by. Then day two. We were having fun. We were laughing. We ate meals together, sat at the beach together, and had times where we did our own thing. There was absolutely nothing wrong with our trip up until that point. But I had wondered if something was missing. A depth. A richness.
Day three. Late afternoon. I was reading a book. My wife, a magazine. The kids were perched in their separate beach chairs. One listening to music. One, in an out of a nap. Another in an obvious (to me) bad mood. I was frustrated. Should I be doing more to create memories? Should I be stirring something up so we could be laughing and carrying on? Am I being a too much of a drag, sitting here reading a book? Would a better, more fun dad be doing other (more exciting) things? It’s what I tend to do when things aren’t going as I anticipated. I wonder what I should be doing to make things different or better. I wonder if the mood of the group is my fault. In other words, I think it is entirely up to me and/or my fault.
Then it happened. Out of nowhere. In a flash. In a blink of an eye. The Father reminded me that not everything is up to me. Things were dead. Ho-hum. Mid. Meh. Then one of my children said to another, “You wanna get in?” That’s all it took. Within 90 seconds, all 5 Pearson’s were in the water, body surfing perfect waves, laughing, yelling, situating their bathing suits, and full of joy. Precisely what I had asked the Father for. It only lasted 20-30 minutes. But it happened. No phones. No books. No television. No AirPods. No agenda. No plan. No scheduled ending. Just together. Carrying on. Laughing.
A resurrection. Life from death. A moment of unplanned energy and joy.
It’s what the resurrected Jesus does. He appears, unexpected. He appears, uninvited (formally) but welcomed with open arms. We can’t plan for it. We can’t schedule it. Often we cannot see it with the physical eye. But with the Spirit’s help, when it happens, we can rush into the ocean and soak in the Presence.
The Jesus who commands the waves to rise and fall; the Jesus who knows how many drops of water comprise the ocean; the Jesus who can count the number of grains of sand - this same Jesus is ruling the world. His kingdom is active and present. He is loving and transforming and inviting and directing and leading. Like a mustard seed buried in the ground. Like yeast working through dough. Like a narrow door that is easily missed. It may not feel or look like it, but when you see it - He’s there.
So, you wanna get in?