Just a bit of dirt

I love spending time away viewing God's beauty all around me. More than that, I love the lessons He can teach through simple, unusual occurrences. Take, for example, an evening at Cannon Beach, Oregon near Haystack Rock. There I was, minding my own business taking millions of pictures of rocks and starfish and seagulls eating crab for supper when I spotted someone in a long, white dress splotching around in the surf. "Kind of unusual," I thought to myself, then sat back to watch for a minute; taking in what I would never ever dare to do--get my wedding dress dirty! Yet there she was, big smile on her face, holding tightly to the new hub posing for picture after picture courtesy The Wedding Photographer. Meanwhile, the sand, dirt and water from the shore began to creep up the crinolin and silky-white dress, until the entire body looked at bit...well...limp and full of sand, dirt and water. Wow! What a picture of marriage, I thought. And life. Oh, how we like to look good on the outside (at least I do!--that's why I could never take myself in a white wedding dress to the beach!) All clean, white, put-together. Yet often our lives are anything but. You know what I mean?

Here's the truth: Jesus, God's one and only Son washed away all that dirt and filth. As I examine my life and confess my sins, He is faithful to forgive and cleanse me from all of the mess! I am free--even to wear a long, white dress while splotching in the surf!