This past week my family rented a vacation home in Ocean City, Nj. We love coming here–walking the boardwalk, eating heaps of ice-cream, lazily laying beneath the burning sun, and splashing through the waves of the dirty Jersey ocean. One of my favorite parts of a beach vacation is the seemingly endless supply of adorable children to watch while lounging in a chair by the sea.
One such adorable child caught my eye this week. She was a little brown-haired girl, no taller than three feet, wearing the girliest pink suit you ever saw, and doing her best to brave the waves with her boogie board. She was so determined, that she spent the entire day running back and forth, hopping onto her boogie board and riding the waves in. It didn’t matter that her parents had long since retried to their blanket a few feet back, that the ocean was full of strangers, or that the waves were rough at high tide. She just pressed on, again and again.
It was comical watching this brave little girl. Sometimes she would venture out to where the water rose to two or three feet, a generous height for such a small person. However, there were other times she would set her boogie board down on the sand and wait for the waves to come in far enough to carry her forward. It was a hopeless endeavor. She lay at the top of a slant, and the few waves that did roll in were not nearly strong enough to move her an inch.
I kept thinking, ‘Just go out a bit father! There you’ll be able to catch a good ride into shore.” Yet there she remained, immobile as ever on the sand. She had ample enthusiasm, but enthusiasm alone was not enough to complete her task.
One morning, as I sat on the beach watching the sunrise, I thought about this little girl and how similar we are. Am I not the same when my enthusiasm for God’s presence gets me only to the shore of his ocean? Do I not also get on my boogie board hoping a wave will come and carry me forward, all the while remaining safely on the sand? How often it is that I pray for God to use me in a powerful way without ever getting up and moving forward on account of my lack of faith.
This desire for a faith-filled life reminds me of when Jesus fed the five thousand. In Matthew’s version, he tells us that the disciples come to Jesus, asking him to send the crowd away to find their dinner before nightfall. Jesus responds, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” We all know what happens next. The disciples’ doubt causes inactivity and Jesus performs the miracle of feeding thousands of people with a few small loaves of bread and some fish. It’s a beautiful story and an incredible miracle, but it’s not really what Jesus wanted.
He wanted his disciples to say, “Yes!”
To say “yes” to Jesus’ invitation would result in a different life indeed. A life that is lived by faith and in the presence of God. There wouldn’t be a sense of fear to say yes, instead there would be faith. Faith that when we say yes to God’s call, a miracle can happen.
I have no clue what this sort of life looks like. Sure, I have faith in God, as the God who saves my soul and does that which is recorded in the Bible, but I barely give him credit for the everyday miracles I witness each day. Four mornings this week have I witnessed God’s gentle nudge against the sun as it rises full and bright over the ocean. Yet most of the time I overlook the fact that God performs this miracle everyday! If I don’t see the common, obvious miracles, how will I learn to see the massive ones? How will I have faith enough to see the dead men raised to life?
I pray that over time I will learn what it is to live by faith in the presence of God. I pray that I will not be inactive on account of my lack of faith, but instead be one who gives five thousand something to eat when there’s only five to give. I pray that my team will learn the same lesson and that together we will fill each country we travel to with the presence of God. I pray that you, too, will increase your faith and obediently step up to the plate when Jesus calls for you to perform his miracles.
It all starts with saying, “Yes!”
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