The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

1 Kings 19:11-13

Today God continued to remind me that He is in control of this trip, and I need not worry about what does or does not happen. He’s already thought things through.

We started our day (Thursday) off as usual, circling up in the parking lot and then rolling to Sun Splash. Set up the nets, lathered up and then got settled. I did a lot more prayer and reading the bible. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but one thing about this trip that is different from last is that we have to be a lot more intentional with who we speak and what we’re doing. We have no free food to attract anyone, so we have to approach them for conversation. And if we don’t feel called to speak to someone, there’s really not much else to do. Last year, you could hide behind the grill or the food tent and just serve away, and not feel bad about not talking. But this year, you’ll either have to play volleyball, take a seat next to the van (where you’ll end up talking to someone) or just go off and read the bible and pray. I ended up doing a lot of the latter. A LOT. I don’t think I’ve ever read the bible so much in the span of a few days.

While the results haven’t been quite as evident as the previous years for me, it’s still been good. In the last few years of high school I really struggled with prayer, taking it for granted and even not praying at all. Coming to college has helped me a lot to re-ackowledge the power of prayer, and this trip has really pushed me far. At school, it’s easy to get caught up in the hub-bub, but here, on spring break, if I’m praying, that’s first and foremost on my mind.

I was able to talk with Henry a bit today. I caught him just as he as about to leave. But he sat back down and we chatted for 15 min or so. I listened a bit, and then directed the conversation towards a discussion on fulfillment and purpose in life. I wanted to ask him what made him happy, and if it really lasted. But he avoided the question a lot, and spoke more of what he saw made other people happy. He never gave me a straight personal answer. At the end of the conversation I asked if I could give him a book, and he wouldn’t let me. He told me he only reads the newspaper. So we’ll see if today (Friday) I can get him to take it.

Just pray for me today when I talk to him that God can truly speak towards me. Here’s a man, 88 years old, who in terms of the world has had a pretty good life. Long life, successful, lots of material possessions. He’s admitted he’s on death’s door, and I’m not sure how I reach out to him so that he can see that he needs something more. If he were to die tonight, he’d probably go to hell. And if you told him that, he probably wouldn’t mind. So just keep me in your prayers so that the Holy Spirit can lead me to speak to him in such a way that would affect change in his life, if it’s in God’s will.

Other than that short conversation, my day on the beach was pretty chill. I only talked to one more person, and older lady who was taking pictures. Everyone team member who saw her knew that I probably should be the one to talk to her. It took me a while, but I did muster up the courage. The conversation never got really deep, but it was enjoyable. I learned about her life, and where she had worked and what she was doing. It was a reminder to me that not every conversation has to get straight to spiritual things, and just to show God’s love in everything I do.

Earlier in the day, I had a conversation with Brent, and we discussed how his trip had gone so far, and how to make the things we learned on this trip sustainable. I was reminded how I always look for this really deep and spiritual conversations, hoping to share Jesus with everyone I speak to. But many times, that’s not in God’s will. Sometimes, he just wants me to show people that I care, and that there are people out there who are not bitter and angry and selfish. I need to stand as a lighthouse to the world, both in my speech and actions. Like the drunk guy last night. He obviously was in no place to hear about Jesus, but even in his drunken stupor, he could tell we were different, and doing something that most people don’t do.

For dinner, we went to Aunt Catfish’s. It was alright. Good experience, but my food was a little bit less than satisfactory. I got steak, and it was a little overdone. So it ended up being dry and ashy. But I know some other people got some exotic stuff like alligator and shark and frog’s legs, and just watching them was enjoyment enough.

At night, I went out with Lauren Bournique and Daniel Rodman. It was an interesting experience since they haven’t gone out at night quite as much as me, and I’d say they weren’t quite as adventurous at night as I usually am. There weren’t many people out at night, and we ended up praying a lot. Which is ironic, b/c the last thing I wanted to do that night was pray even more. But I think that’s where we needed to be, b/c one of the things we ended praying for was Lauren Vriezema and Danny Loudermilk while they were talking to what they later called the “biker gang.” I ended up hearing later that more people showed up, and they eventually split up 1 to 1, which was great b/c all of them had great conversation. We talked to one homeless man later, who ended up yelling at us before wandering off. He most likely had some mental problems. Later we chatted with Gary and Josh, who we’ve managed to see every night on the town.

So we’re about to leave for our last day on the beach now. Pray that God can continue to use us in the ways he’s used us this week, and that he can also start to bring closure to this trip for us. Help him to give us the words to say, and also the contentment to leave things in God’s hands. There will always be things we wish we could have said, or people we wish we could have talked to, but in the end God knows everything that’s going on, and has already planned out everything.