Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Day 56- A Dolphin First

Laura and I are in Destin celebrating our anniversary.  I really appreciate how she is helping me come up with ideas for "firsts."  She is such an encouraging wife.

Today she suggested that we could go on one of those boats looking for dolphins. That's what I did for my "first" today.  We went on a "looking for dolphins" boat. It was quite the fun expedition.  The crew of the boat was very friendly.  It was a gorgeous day.  Laura was grinning and bouncing around and saying how much fun it was.  Yay for today's first.




Guess who the beautiful lady running around getting the best pictures is?


The boat captain took us out for about an hour and a half.  The water and beaches are beautiful.  We drove around in the harbor for a bit. Looking into the water, I was really glad I was in the boat because there were a lot of jellyfish in the harbor.  Then, he took us out into the Gulf for a bit.  The boat was a glass bottom boat.  Technically, I think it would be more correct to say it has a couple of sections of glass in the bottom of the boat.  I went down there for a few minutes. It looked pretty cool.  I could see the bottom and that was nice. I could also see a few jellyfish go by but no other kinds of fish. After a few minutes of watching the water go by the old belly could feel just a touch of queasiness. Back up top I took the old belly.   

It was not long before we spotted dolphins. They were right in the harbor.  Then we spotted more.  We got to see a couple of baby dolphins. The boat captain was really good at stopping the boat and getting us up close to the dolphins.  We saw more than I thought we would.  We probably saw somewhere around 10-15 dolphins all total. I decided not to jump in and swim with the dolphins though it looked like it had the possibility of being fun. It also looked like it had the possibility of drowning; me with my jeans and shoes on and all. It would be pretty embarrassing to drown trying to swim with the dolphins in front of that many people.
 Laura has much better pictures

 

This is another day I was really glad I was doing a year of "firsts."  Typically, we probably would have had a blast (we always do when we go off somewhere together), but we probably would have spent the time shopping (Laura in clothing type stores; me in bookstores or Bass Pro) or just kind of hanging out around Destin.  We would not have seen dolphins because dolphins don't swim in Barnes and Noble or Justice.  In order to see dolphins, you have to go out where the dolphins hang out.  You have to leave the shore.

That reminds me that if I want to see some of God's great works I have to leave the shore of sight living and launch out in faith living.  If I want to see God do big things, I have to believe Him for big things and attempt big things. William Carey is famous for saying, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.”  If I'm going to see God answer big prayers, I have to pray big prayers.  If I want to see God use me to lead someone to Christ, I have to share my faith with someone.  If I want to see God overcome some sin in my life, I have to repent by faith.  It's not likely that I'm going to see God do big stuff while sitting on my couch watching ESPN (not that watching ESPN is wrong; it's just that we have to do more than that).  As I've been typing this, my mind has been wandering to Luke 5:4 which says, "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”  Peter replied that they had worked hard all night and caught nothing but then he said he would do this in obedience to Jesus.  When he did, they caught a bunch of fish.  If I want to see God do big things, I have to launch out in faith and obey His word.

Launching out for the abundant life

Barry
3 things I thank God for today
1. Dolphins
2. Pelicans
3. God being our creator

No comments:

Post a Comment