Day 10... Ocean Shores

Day 10... Ocean Shores...

I got into my car today with very little excitement for my journey ahead... I was tired and I had a dull ache in my chest that felt like sadness. Sadness without reason is the worst kind... because it hints at something deeper... and it always makes me feel a little broken. So I put some music on and it served as white noise while I drove and pondered...'Amazing Grace' came on... (a beautiful song... that I love) and I started thinking about freedom... specifically the freedom that I have through Grace... and it really turned my day around... I still felt tired and a little sad... but I remembered that even though sometimes I feel broken... God loves the broken... He loves the lost and the afraid... He just loves... and it is through His love that I can find freedom from my sadness, from my brokenness...

Ocean Shores was NOTHING like I expected! With a name like 'Ocean Shores' I imagined an idyllic, modern coastal town... with clean lines, pretty streets and a boardwalk along the beach. What I found was entirely different... there were two parts to the town... north and south... and I entered first into the south side. I could have been driving into any urban suburb in Brisbane... it didn't have that 'beachy' feeling at all... and although I knew the beach was just on the other side of the edge of town... I couldn't find a way to get to it... I was confused!!! Ha! Ocean Shores is a really hilly town... so every time I drove to the top of a hill I could see the ocean and every time I got to the bottom... I couldn't find it! ....................... Eventually I followed a road that took me across a bridge to the north side of town... it had a different feel, closer to what I had imagined.. only in the sense that I actually found the beach!!

When I was almost at the beach I was driving down a street of houses when I was shocked to see a swastika graffitied on a road sign... maybe I shouldn't have been shocked... I don't know?? Regardless of its origins... that symbol in our modern world represents hatred... and although I am not naive to fact that there are hateful people everywhere in our world... it still upsets me and I didn't expect to see it and it made me want to cover it up with a big spray painted love heart of my own. The only way we can fight hatred is with love...

I finally made it down to the beach and it was beautiful! The water was wild and churning... the sky was grey... I guess I felt like it was a visual representation of how was I feeling today... Chaotic. The ocean is so incredible... I am in awe of its immensity and power... it can't be contained...

On my way back to my car from the beach I had a brief passing chat with a lady in her sixties... we exchanged the usual polite 'hellos' and 'how are yous'... then I asked if she was from around there... she said that she lived closer to Byron Bay (not far away)... and then all of a sudden she was spewing hatred... not at me but at a certain group in society... I was so taken back that she, in the 30 seconds of conversation... with a stranger, had gone from pleasantries to acid... I felt like turning around, walking away... coughing up some acid of my own... but then I realised that if I treated her in that way... I wouldn't be acting out of love and only love can overcome hatred... so I listened to what she had to say... ended the conversation politely and said 'have a good day!'...

I felt bothered and upset by my two run ins with hate today... but from them I was reminded about love and the power of love... that EVERYBODY deserves to be loved and is loved by God. I was also reminded of the insidious qualities of hate and that it can spread rapidly if left to fester. SO... I am committed to loving people (including myself... hardest part unfortunately)... even when it is difficult. I want to love without limits... I want to love the broken, the hate filled, the unlovely and the lost...

Hmm... I think that is it for today...

20,125kms on the dash... 3,180kms down

xo