Ever since our honeymoon, Keeli and I have not been on a vacation with just the two of us. Now there's three! We strapped the baby in the car for a 6 hour drive and headed from the mountains to the beach. Normally, vacation time was taken for mission trips, conferences, speaking engagements, etc. This time, we were going to relax, rest, and enjoy ourselves. It's nice to see the Lord intervene in the moments we pull off the front lines to rest. It was our first long distance trip with Anneli... Six hours to be exact. On the way there, she whimpered a couple of times when she was hungry. On the way back, she scuffled a little in her sleep and let out no more than a sigh. She slept well at night, behaved on the beach, laughed at the pool, and seemed to relax when her feet were dipped in the ocean. Good baby? Yes! Thank you, Jesus!
The island we were staying has alligators. I wanted to see one that wasn't an appetizer. We returned to the condo, Keeli prayed I would see one, and, less than five minutes later, I spotted an alligator in a waterway behind the condo. Alligator? Yes! Thank you, Jesus! (See photo below)
That wasn't the end of Keeli's simple faith at work. We wanted to bring nice seashells back as a souvenir marking Anneli's first beach trip. Two big Conch shells were in the sand being photographed. First by a girl, then by an elderly couple. As the elderly couple brought the huge shells to the ocean, we asked if we could take them. Seashells? Yes! Thank you, Jesus!
Keeli had never seen sand dollars on the beach. She asked the Lord for sand dollars. As we walked along the beach we found two sound dollars side by side. Twenty yards later, two more were laying side by side. Sand dollars? Yes! Thank you, Jesus!
Neither of us had ever found a shark's tooth. Can you guess what happens next? As we walk on the beach, Keeli asked the Lord for a shark's tooth. Seconds later, she pointed her foot to a nice seashell. I picked it up and looked about twelve inches from where it was. Shark's tooth? Yes! Thank you, Jesus! (See photo below)
If God cares so much for the small things, doesn't it make sense that He cares for the big things? As Keeli said as we walked on the beach, "His gifts are right in front of us. We just need to receive them!"
Jonathan Fawcett
