11 year olds are cool

This last vacation our family just got back from was one of my(Brian's)  favorites.  We weren't rushed, we had just the right amount of planned vs. free time, the drives were pleasant (Sara read The Great Brain out loud to me on one  stretch), the kids had fun with each other - all in all just a great time.

Of the many highlights, there was one morning Katie and I decided that we would go watch the sunrise on the beach and hunt for cool shells.  In order to accomplish this we would have to get up around 5:00 am to get down to the beach by 5:20 am.  With everyone else still sleeping Katie and I grabbed a bucket for our shells and we were off... well just barely.  As I turned the key in the ignition - 'click'.  DANG!  I tried again... and it barely started.  I remembered then that our battery was beginning to go on the fritz.  I wasn't going to let this get in the way of time with just Katie and me, so off we went.  This really wasn't the best time for me to leave my cell phone on the dresser.  The beach was deserted.  I backed into a spot so that it would be easy for someone to give us a jump.  I figured that by then there would at least be somebody down there.  As I turned off the engine I mused, "Well, here's hoping we can get home again."  Katie looked at me with kind of a puzzled look and said, "Maybe we should say a prayer."  "Good idea. Will you say it?"  She did.  Simple, sincere, perfect. 

I was ready to see the sunrise with my daughter.  I bet it would have been a very cool sunrise, except for the fact that every single morning on the Goleta beach (and probably all the southern California coast) there is a thick layer of fog, ocean mist, clouds, whatever you call it, it made for more of a gradual disbursement of the dark rather than a sunrise.  However, with the cool mist in our face, the beauty of the beach, and my daughter's hand in mine - it was perfect.

We found a ton of shells.  It was low-tide, and the shells we found were beyond my expectations.   We both got excited when we came across a "whole" shell that hadn't been broken.  Katie found most of them.  I spotted one that I thought was cool, and yelled to Katie, "I found a whole one!"  I discovered that is was broken as I dug it out of the sand.  "Oh... it's not a whole one."  I was a little disappointed, it would have been a great one.  Katie happily grabs the shell from my hand and says, "Oh Dad, it doesn't have to be whole to be perfect" and puts it in our bucket.

Wow.  No kidding.  I bet this is how God thinks about us.

It doesn't have to be whole to be perfect.

Thanks Katie Jane. 

Soon it was time to go home. I hoped the car would start.

As I turned the key to start the van - click.  Absolutely nothing.  Tried it again.  Nothing, not even a rr-rr-rr. The third time started up like a champ. 

Thanks again Kate.