Eleuthera

Kurt and I returned Wednesday night from Freedom Island. Eleuthera, Greek for freedom, is a 20-some-mile-long, 2-mile-wide strip of paradise in the Bahamas – the perfect place to celebrate a milestone like 20 years of being man and wife! An “out island,” it remains unspoiled and unadulterated with a majestic, wave-cresting Atlantic shore on one side and a calm-oasis Caribbean shore on the other. No tourist traps and no tourists. God’s finger prints, not man’s, make all the impressions on Eleuthera.

Eleuthera!

My sore calves serve as a reminder of the miles, literally miles, we walked on “our” stretch of unpopulated beach named Double Bay. When we weren’t exploring and shell hunting, we were reading, thinking, journaling, talking, resting  . . . communing with the Father and marveling in His glory. Freedom indeed!

From our porch perch, in direct view, were two tiny islands. Each morning the sun rose over the island to the left.

Sunrise over the island off Double Bay Beach

The Father whispered, “I prepared this place for you . . .” And, of course, I beleive He had so personally directed my steps to this exact location – this particular house overlooking these islands off the shore of Double Bay beach – no coincidence. Day by day, I sat with Him, listening and meditating in that setting that made it all so easy to do. The island rock in my view became for me a visual of further instruction on this year’s theme: “Be Thou to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come (Ps. 70:3).”

Here’s a snippet of what I observed:

• Waves in constant motion, swirling around the rock, crashing against the island’s boundaries while the rock remained perfectly still, immovable in the middle of a continuously churning sea
• A firm, steadfast place of refuge on a rolling, platform of change
• Steady, solid, ancient, constant . . .
• A focal point on the horizon, visible in all my wanderings along the shore
• Mysterious . . .
• Huge – I realized that only the tip of this massive structure punctured the ocean’s surface. More invisible than visible. Beyond my imagining!

“Thou art my Rock, (Ps. 31:3)” He is my steady, solid ground in life’s ocean of chaos. I know He is more, so much more, than my physical eyes can see. He is mighty, majestic and mysterious, a place of refuge and where my focus must always remain.

On Eleuthera, the Father’s Word and His creation breathed a fresh breath of life into my soul. Now, it’s back to routine, responsibilities . . . reality! Time not just to muse about my Rock, but to walk step by step on His firm foundation.

Beautiful island Eleuthera . . . we’ll visit again, if only in our memories and dreams.

20 years and counting!