The house was strolling around being quiet. I read a bit in my book and got ready for the day. Once the teeth were brushed, I headed out the door for a nice nature walk. While I tried to make it long, the road ran out pretty shortly and turned to highway, so, I turned around and decided to go sit out in ocean for a bit, just relaxing with the fish. However, the first thing I saw as I was wading, was a nice big puffer fish, swimming right by my ankles. I was quite nervous knowing that they are just a bit poisonous, but no big deal. When I jerked my ankle, he swam away quickly and never even puffed up. Other things I saw were hermit crabs, stone crabs, small minnows and some sweet coral just sitting there swaying in the water. Getting bored of watching them, I wanted to interact so I found a stick and the biggest crab I spotted and after about 30 minutes had him on shore hissing at me. What a great life!
Quiet time was over at 11 in the morning, which was weird to start talking again. I thought I'd be anxious to talk, however, listening to the silence and just concentrating by yourself on whatever came to mind really is a great thing. Being out with the ocean and your mind is some where you can not always get to. Especially in a city of 5.5 million people. There is always a constant hum of some sort.
We loaded the van and took off for Key West for our last day of retreat. We were headed the the southern most point of land in the United States. We later proved everyone wrong as we looked up Hawaii, being much more south, but technically, I was at the southern most point of America. Only 90 short miles from Havanah, Cuba. This seems weird since I feel closer to Cuba sitting in my living room. In Key West, we went to a Conch Bar, where we were served a fantastic meal in an amazing environment with fish in an aquarium. The only difference from the snorkeling the day before was the glass separating us. And the lack of sting rays and barracuda swimming right at you.
We walked around the shops, quickly discovering it was identical to every other tourist hotspot with the crude T-shirts and dirty ladies, however, everything here referred to being south and sea life. A place of its own, yet, carbon copy of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Key West was a bit different than I had ever really imagined it, as I always wanted to go as a kid, but heard it was really no place for a kid. This was very true as drunk people lined the streets trying to talk to you as you passed. One lady even talked me into letting her try my hat on, but crossed the line when she asked if she could keep it. I have never came into contact with someone that sloshed.
We took off back for home, making quick bathroom stops as we flew back across the bridges from island to island. This gave me time to reflect on retreat and everything we had experienced, especially the beauty God has created in his world. Just being in this small group of islands and seeing all the life that fills it, it really is something to think of the entire world and what all possibly can be sharing this big ball we call Earth with all the different types of humans. The complexity of God must be very extreme; all the way to the point that I no longer dream of trying to figure out God. He is so amazing that we can not have any way on Earth of trying to determine it. The fine little details that go into every fish and crab (that most likely will never see a human or change the world that we know of) are so amazing, and just shows that God cares about everything on the face of the earth. I am used to seeing these details in mosquitos and bugs back home, but never think of it, because they are a part of my life. This trip gave me a realization of what really is surrounding us every day!
No comments:
Post a Comment