My reason for visiting Deal
was firstly to do business with God, on the anniversary of my wife’s death; and
secondly to enjoy my retreat from everyday concerns. At the pier entrance is
this great sculpture of a fisherman grappling with some enormous fish. It’s
called Embracing the Sea and created by Jon Buck. For some unfathomable reason
it reminded me of Jacob and the Angel, an alabaster sculpture in the Tate
Britain; and then a consideration of my own struggle to do business with the
Lord this past week. I’ve decided that before battling in prayer with God the
initial hurdle of actually starting to pray is where I most often fall down. Am
I the only one who finds getting down to prolonged prayer really, really
difficult? Overcoming my own distractions, tiredness, wrong priorities and all
the rest of it is a major challenge.
I had a great walk along the
cliffs to the South Foreland Lighthouse and that reminds me that Jesus is the ‘Light
of the World’. For sure I needed to meet with him and he has opened my eyes to
see a way forward as I begin to progress beyond my journey through bereavement.
In some ways this may be a
rather plain view, across the beach and out to sea, but nonetheless it is my
favourite. I just love to sit and think in a place like this, with absolutely
no distractions. Call me odd, but I once bought a cd of a recording of the surf
on this actual shingle beach. Ostensibly to help me sleep when dealing with
tinnitus, I simply find it quite therapeutic.
And this has to be my number
one favourite location for blog writing/posting. It’s within a few hundred
yards of a cell-phone tower, so pretty much 3g data connection guaranteed as I
sit in my home from home motorhome! For creative inspiration there’s the glorious
Dover Castle in one direction, a walk along the cliffs in the other, and behind
my van is a most wonderful view across the English Channel…
I’m not sure if my camera
really does justice to this glimpse of France, it sure doesn’t look very far
away at all though. And it’s as though the world, the whole world is really
within a stone’s throw… hey one short ferry ride, then ignoring visas and the
circumvention of trouble spots, I could be driving all the way to China!
Family tradition insists upon
a walk along the pier, though at one time that also encompassed breakfast after
an early morning car journey. But I can’t imagine eating out on my own, it’s
just no fun. Deal is always so very sunny as well…
I was woken around 4am one
morning with numerous fog horns sounding within a few miles of my campsite. I
felt a little bleary eyed all day. There’s no escaping nature and no matter the
closeness of our walk with God there’s certainly no guarantee of immunity from
any of life’s great challenges.
But no matter the barren rockiness
of our journey through life the Lord always reveals his beauty. Yes flowers
such as these are pretty much scattered all along the shoreline.
Hosea 12:3-4 ‘Even in the
womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought
with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He
wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to
face, and God spoke to him’ (NLT)
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