Take a Break

Christmas is just two-and-a-half weeks away. Does this stress you out a little bit? You know those countdown to Christmas calendars, or worse yet the little countdown ornament on the Hallmark channel in the corner of the screen that constantly reads 16 days to Christmas, 15 days to Christmas, etc.? They make me crazy! I feel like they’re screaming at me, “Get your act together!”

I thought I did have my act together but that doesn’t really seem to be the case. True, my shopping is nearly done, my cards are purchased, though not addressed, and the tree is up but somehow, there’s still so much to do. My nephew scoffed at me this weekend when he heard I’d put up my downstairs decorations in early November. He said, “No Christmas before Thanksgiving.” It’s a good plan. But the truth is, if I hadn’t done it then, it wouldn’t have gotten done and like I told my nephew, “Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, I’m very thankful for that, so you see it all works so well together.”

But today, as I’m preparing for a speaking engagement and looking at the stack of unaddressed cards, I think back to the time just a few weeks ago when I was ready to explode. My girlfriend simply told me, “Shhh, close your eyes, look at Him.” Such good advice from my friend; to take some time off from the craziness and just look to Him. I hope you’ll take some time to do that today.

This past week I spent visiting my mom and dad in California. We decorated, shopped, ate, and had a fun time. If I have to choose between having a perfectly decorated house, all the cards sent out in a timely manner or spending time with my parents, my parents will win every time. It doesn’t hurt that they live just a few blocks from the ocean in one of the most beautiful places of United States either. So, when I was there, I’d take a little drive down to the ocean just before the sun would set each day . Trust me, when I need time alone with Jesus, the ocean is a great spot to be.

As you might guess, I took a few pictures along the way. So, to give myself a writing break today, I’m posting some pictures from my times along the shore. I hope it provides a beautiful break in your day, too.

This next one I actually took right after lunch one day. At my parents golf course one of the tees is up at the top of a little rocky mound. It kind of reminded me of “Tom Sawyer’s Island” at Disneyland, which I loved climbing on as a kid. It was kind of fun to “climb” to the top to get this picture. I might have taken up golf had I known earlier in life there were courses with ocean views.

Now, back to the sunsets.

One night I watched a bunch of surfers enjoying the waves. Quite the talent if you ask me. Shortly after I took this picture I walked back to the car, got in, took off my sandy shoes, lined the floor of the car with Kleenex and put my shoes on them. THEN, I shut the door and immediately it started pouring down rain!

On Saturday night I made my way down to the ocean just in time to watch the sunset. There were tons of people there to taking pictures alongside me. It’s quite the tourist spot so Saturday is a prime time for extra activity. But really very few of them actually watched the sunset, they just took a picture or two and left. But, if you look closely in the lower left side of this picture there is one couple who was serious about watching it. They had climbed out on the rocks, sat down and just stayed there to enjoy the view.

The thing about sunsets is they change slowly, but they do change and if you stick around you might just see something amazing!

And sometimes the real show doesn’t even start until after the sun has dipped below the horizon. God sure created a beautiful way to end the days!

I hope you enjoyed the view. Thanks for stopping by!