My Beloved Beach and Sunrise Club — A Branch In the Vine

We are remaining in OHIO this summer…canceling our upcoming week on Long Beach Island at the Jersey Shore because of a 14 day mandated quarantine. So I’m revisiting my many ocean sunrise posts.

Join me as I reminisce and experience the immensity and beauty of our ever fresh and new God of Creation:

First posted August 2013:

I have a Sunrise Club. My brother Conrad and I are charter members. Whenever I go to the coast in NJ, I must get up to see at least one sunrise. Often Conrad would call me to make sure I was up, and he would join me.

Through the years, various members of extended, as well as immediate, family would sometimes come along. But no one seriously devoted to it like Conrad and me, until...

My grandson Kaden decided to join my club. He knew full well that the basic requirement is to see at least one sunrise. So that we did early one morning a few years ago when I visited Kaden in California. We saw the sun gloriously arise over the mountains to the east of their home in Menifee.

However, as we East Coast sunrise watchers all know, the Cadillac of all sunrises takes place over the ocean. And a few summers ago Kaden joined me for one of those glorious events...enjoyed every day by fishermen and early morning beach-combers alike.

We even were able to get Kaden's cousins (2 of my other grandsons), Evan & Carter, to get up to watch a sunrise in Virginia Beach on their vacation. So our number is increasing!

You may ask why I love sunrises so much? Because to me a sunrise is a magnificent picture of the manifested glory of our God. Listen to what the psalmist says,

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.[a] Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat. Psalm 19:1-6 NLT

It gets so exciting when after the gorgeous array of color of the early dawn, the tiny sliver of sun begins to peek forth. And then the reflection on the water...Oh my!

But as we all know, especially sunrise watchers, many days we are disappointed by no visible glory. The clouds, the rain, the fog, the haze may all obscure the rising of the sun. But we all know that the sun has still risen, often with a silvery beauty all its own.

How do we know that the sun has arisen? By faith! Because we know that we know that we know that the sun rises every day!

And that's why I now love all sunrises -- because each and every one is a picture of the glory of God, some times more manifested than at other times.

Isn't that also true about life? Sometimes God manifests Himself in tangible ways, like in the love of a mother for her child, in an encouraging note from a friend, in a deep experience in prayer and worship. But then at other times, His glory is obscured, as in the death of a loved one, the suffering of rejection, the struggles of financial need. It's then that by faith we can say, "I know that I know that...

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth!" Job 19:25 NIV

So maybe you'd like to get up early one morning and view a sunrise. Enjoy the glory of God in its amazing magnificence or the glory of God in its magnificent obscurity, remembering that

...faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 ESV

And no matter what kind of sunrise it is, let me know if you'd like to join my Sunrise Club...or better yet, my SONrise Club!

My Redeemer

Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning Who told the ocean you an only come this far? Who showed the moon where to hide 'til evening Whose words alone can catch a falling star?

Well I know my Redeemer lives I know my Redeemer lives All of creation testify This life within me cries I know my Redeemer lives

The very same God that spins things in orbit He runs to the weary, the worn and the weak And the same gentle hands that hold me when I'm broken They conquered death to bring me victory

Now I know my Redeemer lives I know my Redemer lives Let all creation testify Let this life wihtin me cry I know my Redeemer, He lives

To take away my shame And He lives forever I'll proclaim That the payment for my sin Was the precious life He gave But now He's alive And there's an empty grave.

And I know my Redeemer, He lives I know my Redeemer lives Let all creation testify This life within me cries I know my Redeemer lives

A Branch in the Vine

A Branch In the Vine