Monday, September 26, 2005

King Canute on the Seashore


"Will you not be shaking
with fear before Me,
who have put the sand
as the limit for the
seas by an eternal order,
so that it may
not go past it?"
Jeremiah 5:22b
A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great there was a king of England named Canute [English name for "Knut"]. King Canute was a Dane; but the Danes were not so fierce and cruel then as they had been when they were at war with King Alfred.
The great men and officers who were around King Canute were always praising him. "You are the greatest man that ever lived," one would say. Then another would say, "O king! there can never be another man so mighty as you." And another would say, "Great Canute, there is nothing in the world that dares to disobey you." The king was a man of sense, and he grew very tired of hearing such foolish speeches.
One day he was by the seashore, and his officers were with him. They were praising him, as they were in the habit of doing. He thought that now he would teach them a lesson, and so he bade them set his chair on the beach close by the edge of the water.
"Am I the greatest man in the world?" he asked. "O king!" they cried, "there is no one so mighty as you." "Do all things obey me?" he asked. "There is nothing that dares to disobey you, O king!" they said. "The world bows before you, and gives you honour." "Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little waves which were lapping the sand at his feet. The foolish officers were puzzled but they did not dare to say "No." "Command it, O king! and it will obey," said one. "Sea," cried Canute, "I command you to come no farther! Waves, stop your rolling, and do not dare to touch my feet!"
But the tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet, but also his robe. His officers stood about him, alarmed, and wondering whether he was not mad. Then Canute took off his crown, and threw it down upon the sand.
"I shall never wear it again," he said. "And do you, my men, learn a lesson from what you have seen. There is only one King who is all-powerful; and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. It is he whom you ought to praise and serve above all others."

Sunday, September 25, 2005

The Song of the Sea


I'm not sure why I decided to bring James, my six year old son, to the beach this morning after Church---we usually got donuts instead. Maybe because this was the first clear day in a week; or maybe we were both lonely and needed a song.
"Dad," James began as we leaned against the railing separating us from the pile of boulders forming the breakwater, "I got a question."
A wave crashed in with a thump, sending spray across my face. Inhaling the freshly-salted air, I listened as the hissing foam boiled about briefly before slowly draining out again. Thousands upon thousands of cobble stones were displaced by the flow, and they rolled with the water, clapping against each other like a distant cheering crowd. It raised in pitch until another wave thudded against the shore.
"What's your question, James?"
"I can't hear God, Dad. How do I hear God?"
I gazed down the stretch of beach skirting Highway 101. This expanse, usually covered with brilliant, fine-grained sand, had been stripped clear by recent storms, leaving only a confusion of cobbles and driftwood. Yet even buried and littered with flotsam, this remained my place of peace---for here, the song of the sea provided solace through the year since my wife's death.
"You want to hear God?" I asked as the cobbles clattered again.
James nodded and I leaned close. "Then," I whispered into his ear, "you have to really, really listen."
Another wave broke against the boulders, and I saw James inhale the salty spray.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

"At The Sea-Side" by Robert Louis Stevenson


When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Nearer My God To Thee

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone.
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God to Thee.

Refrain

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee.
Refrain
R.M.S. "Titanic"