So as I type this I am with my family on our last "big" vacation before i leave for the race. Now we just got here yesterday and to describe it a word- INTERESTING. It started Thursday afternoon with a normal trip to the local automatic car was to was my mom's minivan. After pulling into this little contraption my lovely mother realizes that her mirrors are out and the sign says to "turn them in". My mother, in all her infinite wisdom rolls down the driver's side window and my window to turn them in. Well her window rolled up immediately after she was done thus avoiding the impending doom of a splash in the face by the automatic car wash. My window however was stuck in the rolled down position and as you can imagine, i recived a face full of water before the problem was corrected. This is how Family vacation 2011 started.
Flash forward today. I was walking down the beach with my niece, who by the way turned 6 yesterday. So we are walking down the beach, waves crashing on the shore, birds flying, kites flying- your typical beach vaction brouchure right in front of us. So we played in the water for a little while and we were walking back to our hotel and Chloe stops and turns to the ocean and just kinda stands there. Now realizing these moments will be few and far between in the next few weeks I stop and just observe. I walk alongside her and we sit down on our towel and just kinda sit in silence. After a few minutes she looks at me and says "Hey Bubba, you know something?" "Whats that kid?" Now at this point in the story I must pause and say normally I am not an emotional guy, so I am not a cryer. But what she said next floored me. "You know Bubba, God is pretty cool. He created this big ole ocean for us to play in. And just think, that same God who made that big ole ocean loves me!"
WOW!!!!! I was speechless. With tears in my eyes I kissed her on the head and said "He sure does kid. He sure does." My sister is a single mother loving with my mom and stepdad and she does the best she can to raise this little girl. I feel in some ways its my responsibility to teach Chloe a thing a two, like how a male is supposed to treat a female and we discuss our favorite Bible stories. This one little interaction with my niece gives a fresh perspective on Matthew 18:1-5. So in trying to teach this little angel something about riding waves and picking up sea shells, she teaches me about the faith of child…
