Birthday Dinner

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A tradition has been for my mother and I to go to the beach and celebrate my birthday. This is the first time I have done so since she passed away four years ago. I went to Lincoln City where she liked to go and down to the bay at the south end of Lincoln City. There many people gathered to watch the tide ebb and flow, eat at Moe's restaurant, build fires on the shore, gather driftwood, and let their dogs roam the shoreline. But there was a couple of friendly gentlemen that I recognized from five years ago. They were still there sitting beside their bonfire, drinking their hidden beverage from a brown bag hidden inside another bag. I wandered up to them and began to talk. As I introduced myself, one of the men recognized me and asked where my mother was. I became silent and grinned. The hair on my arms stood so high they could have swayed with the breeze. They were the same men my mom and I got the crab from five years ago when we were there celebrating my 53rd birthday. The Lord really works in great ways. So what better way to celebrate my 58th birthday but with old friends and fresh crab cooked over an open bonfire and watching a beautiful sunset. Soon many other people began to gather as the bonfire became bigger and the music from the guitar became livelier and we all enjoyed a time of celebration of old and new friends.

No matter where you go, if you open your heart to find and learn new things, you will be rewarded ten-fold. The Lord rewarded me with gifts of friendships old and new, a beautiful sunset and rising of a full moon, the power of songs in our hearts, and the gathering of strangers from near and afar.

The ebb and flow of the waves are like each breath of God. When we have any form of discomfort, each wave reaches deep inside each of us and takes that discomfort away, pulls it back to the horizon, and our Lord. Our Lord sends a new wave of comfort and peace to replace the discomfort. It put smiles on the faces of our new friends. Along comes another wave and takes another discomfort. Soon you are at ease. The power of the ebb and flow of water - of the ocean. The power of what the Lord did that night. One of the best birthdays I ever had.

On to a great year of new adventures!!!

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