Summer came out of nowhere last week. All of the sudden the days are bright and sunny, and the beaches are busy busy busy. It's made for an interesting change in schedule for us, since the most logical way to connect with people right now is to spend every afternoon on a towel in the sunshine. This is particularly true this week while we have a team of people from Chicago reaching out to kids on the beach with sports.

My sense from God is that right now, my job really isn't big plans and schemes; it's spending time visiting people and listening to them. This is seriously not my specialty (I'm all about the scheming!), and I'm grateful for the beach and the way it makes that job easier. I just keep telling myself to stop being so darn serious and relax, but don't you think it's odd that my job is to lather myself with sunscreen, lie down on my towel, and spend the afternoon talking to friends about mostly nothing?

There's something so beautiful at the same time about this ministry of presence and listening. Without understanding the connection exactly, it brings to my remembrance a favorite psalm:"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10 Yes, I will be still, lying there on the beach, and trust God to use my offering no matter how strange it may seem to me.

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