On Thursday afternoon, after finishing the first draft of my sermon, I head out for street singing, but it's been raining, windy, and the pews are soaked. I change my plans and take a stroll down the promenade near the church to Sugar at Chelsea Bay, which is next to the ocean. The water was at high tide, and small, weak waves were constantly crashing on the beach. 

  I stopped and watched the faces of the small waves closely. The waves hadn't made it up to the path I'd walked ten years ago and three years ago. The path I had walked was still there, but the waves were no closer. 

  I had these thoughts and reflections because of a passage of Scripture that I had read and meditated on in preparation for the sermon. Jeremiah's words to the people of Israel, who did not tremble before God. "I have bounded the sea with sand, and the waters will never pass over it. No matter how high and how hard the waves beat, they will not overcome the sand." (Jer. 5:22)

  The Lord's realization seems to be that no matter how great our wisdom and ability, we have limits before God. No matter how hard the waves crash, they can't overcome the sand. While I was with the Lord sitting by the water, and while I was on the cliff with Him, the message seemed to sink in that I would never be harmed.

  I pondered further. How was the sand made? Just to be sure, I looked it up on Google, and it turns out that large chunks of rock, broken off from granite blocks in high mountains, roll down rivers, bumping and cracking as they go, turning the rocks into pebbles, smaller and smaller, and eventually into tiny grains of sand. I wonder if that's why our teeth couldn't handle chewing sand.

  It's also surprising that glass can be found in such strong sand. I tried to organize my thoughts while walking. Each of us, like a big boulder, cracks and breaks, becomes smaller, and then goes out into the river or ocean. And after being pushed and pushed by the currents and waves, we seem to arrive at the beach. I thought that this could be us, Christians, who are sent to this earth today. 
  I could see why God sent us to this earth to be light and salt. 

  I reflected on the place of mission as I realized that we, the church, could be the sand that holds the last hold when the world is against God.