With the fan twirling above me, my shoes kicked off my feet, and my hair pulled back from my face, I think I am finally ready to type a new post. Yes, it's been a while since my last entry, and the extreme summer heat is just one of the reasons. I won't go into the others; each of them would only editorialize everything that most people are tired of hearing about. These posts would have nothing to do with blessings from the beach, and they'd be far too lengthy, so let's take a look at today's photo instead. I call it, "Beach History". It's amazing what you can find on the beaches of South Haven! True, most of it came from regions north of us, but isn't it incredible how fossils, millions of years old, ended their journey here at my feet? Huh!
In today's shot, I've scattered the glass and fossilized crinoids throughout, but the rest of the fossils are pretty much around the edges, starting with the Petoskey stones in the upper right corner. Going clockwise, you'll see two honeycomb corals, then a horn coral peeking out of the corner. The longer piece in the lower left corner appears to be one single strand of pipe organ coral (I should have gotten the whole thing in the picture, sorry!). On top is a fossil containing several crinoids, and next to that is the first piece of blue chert that I have ever found! It is microcrystalline quartz, and its blue color tells us it is from the area of Leland, Michigan, over 200 miles away!
Inspiration for Today's World from Proverbs 16:7 (NLT)
When the ways of people please the Lord, he makes even their enemies live at peace with them.
It was my first time to the beach since my spine surgery. Hoping that my tailbone would be able to handle the repetitious bending and standing pattern, I was both excited and a little leary. Thankfully, all was well. No pain, and I found more treasures than I had anticipated. I was especially excited about the seven crinoids! (The oldest record of crinoid fossils stands at 350 million years, but there are some types of crinoids still living, so I have no idea how old these are!)
Scripture for the Day
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down---when we die and leave these bodies---we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (NLT)
