I can hear the call of the sea.
The waves lull me into a dream
Of the water in the Anduin
Flowing ever into the sea.
The waves rose in towers of blue
Then collapse in ruin of others.
My heart was drawn to the deeps
And I ever longed for the call to the sea.
My bones were called
And I will never forget the enchanting blue
Where the wind tossed up the water
And sheets of sapphire leapt
Up from the deep
Licking the pure white sand.
So I am called to the sea.
-Noah P.

Noah wrote this on the way home from the lake the other day, after we had played in the waves – big ol’ white caps were crashing on us and around us – it was magical. This morning we read from Imagine the God of Heaven by John Burke: “Jesus did not save us just so we could one day be in heaven; he made a way for heaven – God’s Kingdom – to invade earth through us today as we depend on the Holy Spirit moment by moment… Learning to quiet ourselves and listen for his guidance is the single most important thing we can do… In fact, staying focused on this one thing is probably the hardest thing to do. But as you practice getting better at it, you will move toward fulfilling your purpose, and those old ‘sin-habits’ will begin to fall away. What will grow from within is more love, more joy, more peace;…” 

“But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.” -Acts 3:31 msg