The Love of God...

Hard to believe that at this time last week, I was strolling in the sand at Chesapeake Bay. The day is every bit as beautiful as last Sunday, but the scenery (the side of my garage and the extension cord feeding my laptop) is slightly less enthralling.

My trip to the ocean was wonderful in every way. My planes stayed airborne when they should have and landed with a decent amount of grace. My sunburn has morphed from painful to incessantly itchy – and I’m molting like a snake. (ATTRACTIVE.) I have a host of pictures to scrap and Walgreens was kind enough to run a good special this week so I can afford to print them. My suitcase is mostly unpacked (this may be a record!) and I think I’m ready to return to the land of the working.

The chance to see the ocean was a dream come true for me. I wanted to say I’d dipped my toes in something larger than a shower. I wanted to write in the sand and take a picture of whatever I wrote. I wanted to walk barefoot along the beach and pick up shells. I wanted some sun. (Can we say WISH FULFILLED?)

And I rather hoped that somewhere in all those dream fulfillments, God would show up with something to say. He and I have been talking a lot lately. (A lot more than usual – and we usually chat often.) And I was definitely not disappointed with the conversation we had that day.

I stood there, water swirling over my ankles, looking out at blue waves that were only interrupted by piers and the occasional boat. I loved it that I couldn’t see a shore in front of me. Just water…water…water…sky.



As usual, a song came to mind. As usual, it was the David Phelps version.

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky
Oh love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure -
The saints’ and angels’ song.

I looked to the right and the left and tried to imagine thick, black ink filling the water covered sand…down to depths I couldn’t even imagine. I looked overhead and tried to fathom writing on a sky that was wider and higher than I knew…and I’d just flown in it. I looked down at the twisted, broken sticks littering the beach and imagined each of them carved out with a tip for writing. I looked at the countless people scattered about and knew that they were only a fraction-let of the people on the planet.

And surrounded by all that greatness, I thought of those next words…to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky.

I stood on a few square inches of a beach where I could see just a few miles of that whole ocean. If the entire expanse (times all the oceans in the world) can’t contain His love – wow.

God and I are on a journey. It’s a bigger journey than I can comprehend. And I’m thankful that His love is even greater still. How measureless and strong!