Vacation Destin..ation

        
             I want to share with you all some of my thoughts from my recent vacation to Destin, Florida.  This was our third trip to  Camp Gulf in Destin and I think it was our best trip yet.  The weather was perfect with sunshine everyday, so there was no worry about having to do certain activities on a particular day.  After a very difficult year health-wise, God was merciful and gave me this vacation with pretty good health overall.  God answered my prayers by not only making it possible for this trip to happen, but it was all in His timing.  We were delayed from our original August date and were unsure about when to leave up until the day before we left.  When the Psalms say, "I will tell of your wonderful deeds", I say, "Amen, Yes, I will too."  I praise God for this much needed trip and for the healing over the past months that led up to it.

        "The Lord knows the kind of comfort we need when we’re grieving. He knows even better than we do. All we have to do is call on him. We don’t need to give him instructions. We don’t even have to tell him what’s wrong. All we have to do is say, “Lord, I need you,” and he will be right by our side.  
        The first step in becoming a truly “good” person as a follower of Christ is to stop pretending that we’re good on our own and to ask God to make us as good as we can be. We will fail many times, but He will keep growing us and changing us. God is faithful and—in His time and in His way—He’ll do it."  [odb.org]

         I think vacation is like a micro-time of where our fruits of the Spirit, either shine thru or fail.  Fruits of the Spirit are “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).  On vacation, we are out of our norm and comfort space, so the test of showing our Christian character begins.  How do we respond to the ungodly, the irritants, the pressures of this failing world?  

       "God not only notices us, He is with us at all times. We are to keep ourselves in God’s love, whether we feel Him or not. By praying and filling our minds with God’s truth, His love will grow in us and through us. Then we won’t be so consumed with wanting others to notice us. We will become people who notice others and let God’s love shine on them. Jude 1:20-21, “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (NIV)."  [odb.org]

     

       Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (NIV)

        My vacation motto is "Faith over fear and Do It, If Possible."   Our trip didn't go without adjustment, and modification too.  I got to go on a 35 minute helicopter ride with my personal assistant/friend and my portable air machine.  I got to sit in a beach chair with the waves crashing against me, because my feeding tube was protected by two layers of ClingWrap...no joke.  "with God all things are possible.”  

 “Seven Things That Can Be Done Only In This Life.”
This list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a good reminder of how God wants us to live and what He wants us to do.  [intouch.org]

1. Love and pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:44).

2. Walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

3. Love God by enduring temptation (James 1:12).

4. Through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13).

5. Lay up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20).

6. Share the gospel with the lost (Matthew 28:19-20).

7. Exercise your spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6-8).