For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…
Ecclesiastes 3
a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance…
Saturday afternoon we rolled into Pensacola so we could spend a couple of days with our friends Frank and Sylvia Beall.
Rebekah and I lived in Pensacola from 1982 through 1996, during her tenure at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Frank served as senior pastor and we were privileged to be part of something here that was extra special. This was an amazing place to be, especially when the children were young and we were figuring out what this life in ministry would look like.
It was good to be at Trinity for worship Sunday morning, to feel the positive and authentic spirit of life that still animates this congregation, and to reconnect with so many of the good people we said goodbye to thirty years ago. It did our hearts good.
Then, after literally hours of great conversations and hugs and stories and more, we decided to drive out to Pensacola Beach so we could breathe in some of the pristine beauty of the Fort Pickens National Seashore.
It was just a few minutes but it was magical. White sands, breezy, gentle waves, the ocean at least a couple of dozen shades of blues and whites and greens, the water lapping against the sand, the interface between land and sea, real and surreal, chronos and kairos, time washing against eternity.
It was a curious moment because I was full with gratitude but with tears too. I found my emotions caught in the memories of our children playing here in the sand and splashing in the waves… and part of me longed for, ached for the innocence and the promise of that time. I don’t do nostalgia, and it really wasn’t that so much as it was a deep connection to the beauty and the pain and the gratitude that comes with memories that rush in – unbidden, unanticipated and unmanageable.
And the waves splashed, and Rebekah and I held each other, and then we walked back into today.
Life is good, and sometimes it is difficult too, but always it is beautiful – DEREK
