Beach Life

After living in the town so lovingly called "PCB" for 7 weeks now, I have learned a lot about beach life: 
In beach life, it is apparently OK to walk around mostly naked anywhere you want to. 
In beach life, your town goes from being one of those in which you know everyone at Wal-Mart Monday through Thursday to a place where you don't even think about gracing Wal-Mart Friday through Sunday.
In beach life, you get to visit with a lot of old friends during the summer.
In beach life, you make sure you have new friends secured by winter!
In beach life, it's normal to wait 8 weeks on your kitchen to be demolished and redone from a water leak but the handy-men work with a smile!
In beach life, there are wonderful people waiting to make you feel like family.
In beach life, there are a lot of hurting people looking for Jesus and they don't even know it. 
In beach life, there are incredible ways to reach out to those who are hurting. 
In beach life, you have to be me missing ALL 5 of your senses to miss God's beauty!

All of these realizations have given us many new stories and several come with plenty of laughs.  Come visit us and we will tell them all!

Evan and I continue to be blown away by how much we feel at home in our new surroundings and how many missional opportunities we have at Woodlawn to reach individual lives.  We can officially say that we have made it through Vacation Bible School and are attempting to master the Sunday morning circus.  We have said goodbye to one senior pastor and are saying hello to another this week.  The beach life is a world of constant change that keeps us on our toes and just far enough out of our comfort zones to keep us continually looking for Christ and telling Satan to get out of the way!

Here are some photos of a few of the beloved friends and family that have come to see us so far and a few awesome experiences we have taken part in since April 29th:

A sunset Catamaran Cruise could possibly be the most relaxing and breathtaking experience on Earth.

Halley and Justin were here within days of our move.  There are always fun adventures when they are involved!

We had a great long weekend with Mom and Dad.  I could spend my hours with my toes in the water like this.

The pups are officially spoiled and expect beach time too.

What is better than a day in the sun?  A day in the sun followed by a random visit from a sweet friend named Rachel!

If you recall, in my last blog I mentioned the Baptisms on the Beach. It was every bit as incredible as I had anticipated. A few dolphins even joined the party and added to the majesty of it all. These pictures are just a glimpse of heaven as those go into the water for Baptism and has the church stands behind them in their journey.

    

Peace and love people.  Keep those prayers going for those in recovery from tornadoes, missionaries in the field and those in Panama City that are so close to finding peace in Jesus!