WE LIVE HERE
the spiritual pathway
Drifting with the Tide WRITTEN BY DR. H. WILLIAM PERRY
I
must have been 7 or 8 when I first went to the beach. We left Live Oak on the early morning of July 4th and drove the 100 miles to Jacksonville Beach. I can still remember the sense of awe I felt when we drove to the top of a small hill and I could see miles and miles of ocean water ahead. “Look at what God has made,” I said. Daddy parked our car on the beach where scores and scores of cars were already parked. We took a blanket and towels to a vacant spot where we could claim our place for the day. Then my sisters and I ran out into the water and I experienced the wonderful waves. I walked on out into deeper water and I had my first experience of the day with fear. A big wave swept in, lifted me up, then covered me and carried me quickly toward the shore. Wow! I had no control over the swiftly moving water. But what relief I felt when I suddenly was only ankle deep, and the water was calm again. When I could finally see, I found my family a few yards up the beach. I stayed in the shallow water after that. Mama got our lunch from the car and spread it on the blanket. We sat around eating and enjoying each other and the beauty of God’s creation. After a while I decided to go back into the ocean, promising my Daddy I wouldn’t go deep. It was fun, and I thoroughly enjoying 60 statesboromagazine.com
November/December 2021
myself, riding on my inner tube, feeling the waves pushing me around. Then I felt that I’d better go back to where the rest of my family was. But I couldn’t find them. Then I couldn’t find our car. “Oh no!” I said. “They’ve left me!” I panicked. They were nowhere to be found! I was headed up toward the Life Guard’s stand when I looked way on up the beach, and there was my family. I ran up to them, holding back the tears. “Why did y’all move up the beach?!” I asked. “We didn’t,” Daddy said. “Yes, you did!” I replied. “You moved way up toward the pier from where we had been!” Then Daddy explained what had happened. There is a current in the water that caused me to drift, and during the time I was in the water, I had drifted a hundred yards or more. I had no idea it was happening. It’s just the normal movement of the ocean water, and it caused me to drift and drift. During the decades since that beach trip I have discovered that the normal currents of life can cause us to drift along, unaware that it’s happening. There are those who have been very careful about their eating habits, staying slim for years, and then without realizing it, they change their habits and gain more and more weight. It was not their intention; they just drifted into it. Through the decades I have watched active Church members who rarely missed a worship service or Bible study or church activity. Suddenly they missed a Sunday. Then a couple of weeks later they missed another, then another. After a while they missed more than they attended. That was not their intention; they just slipped into inactivity. Drifted away. It happens more than we realize. Be careful about your drifting. It can cause you to move farther and farther from where you want to be and from where God wants you to be. S
