Teamwork

I love being on a team. It gives me a sense of belonging, more good things get done, and I feel a sense of connection to something bigger and better than myself. I am glad teams are a biblical concept; they don’t call them “teams” in the Bible, but the Bible clearly identifies the benefits of working together. My New Testament reading for today from Romans included this: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us” (Rom. 12:4-6).

This passage tells us a few things about teams. For instance it tells us that just because you have a group of people that does not necessarily mean you have a team. A group of people could be just a crowd of people. Paul indicates that teams involve collaboration and interdependence – the group forms “one body,” A team is a group that comes together to collaborate in order to reach a shared goal for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. A team is a group of people with a high degree of interdependence, all aimed at achieving a common goal.

The passage also teaches that teammates are people deeply committed to each other; Paul writes that “each member belongs to all the others.” A team cares for its members; they are working together at such a deep level that the group literally “belongs” to one another – there are no lone-rangers or free-lancers or superheroes on a team when it is working at its highest potential. That is not to say each person has the same level of gifting – Paul mentions that each one contributes “according to the grace” given him or her. Everyone brings something unique and important to the table. And when a team finds its proper rhythm – its groove, so to speak – where each member is contributing exactly what they should - then watch out!

And that leads to still another observation about teams found in Scripture. With teams, synergy is achieved; the sum of a team is greater than its individual parts; two plus two equals five or more. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 describes it in this way: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

The acronym stenciled in locker rooms and board rooms across the land is clichéd but true T.E.A.M. – Together Everyone Accomplishes More. Since biblical times people have realized this. The question is, why don’t we take advantage of teams? How about you? Are you a part of any teams? Or are you just part of a few groups? Imagine what a church staff, or even an entire church could accomplish if it began functioning as a team? If your department, or class, or business or church is not functioning as a team, what can you do to foster its evolution into a team? Why not begin working toward that today?

Tweeting Prayers

I found this article on the BBC. For years thousands of believers have come to place their prayers on handwritten notes between the 2,000-year-old stones of the Western or "Wailing" wall in Jerusalem in hopes that their requests will find a short-cut to God. I went to Jerusalem myself in 1995 and visited the Western Wall. I prayed there and put a written prayer in one of the mortar joints of the wall.

In recent years, people from overseas have been able to email and fax their prayers which were then printed out and taken to the wall. Now an service has started using the social networking service Twitter so prayers, sent as "tweets" can be printed off and posted on the wall to sit alongside the thousands of other notes placed there by visitors.

Since the service began hundreds of people have taken advantage of it. Founder Alon Nil is now looking for sponsorship to pay someone to help maintain the site or a programming service that can do some of the work for him.

What will they think of next?

Push Hard - Pray Hard

It is crunch time at NewSong. We begin a new ministry year next month, our tenth. In preparation for that we have been doing our best to get everyone on board with our mission of building community (relating to one another in small groups) and reaching out missionally in all that we do (worship as our front door, open chair small groups, and getting every man, woman, boy and girl serving so people see Jesus in their service). I just finished leading a series of eight meetings on eight consecutive nights in member homes and at the church in an attempt to convey this vision and mission. I met with considerable resistance to some of the changes we are proposing.

The gist of what we are doing is making a hard push for covenant membership. We want to make sure there is a clear understanding of what being a part of our church means. We are raising the bar – raising expectations. Why? Because we believe this is critical if we are going to be serious about transforming lives and transforming the world. It is also critical if we are going to build genuine community. People need to understand that being a part of our church involves more than simply showing up at 10:30 on Sunday morning.

There seems to be an assumption that people are afraid of commitment, but I believe that those who are genuinely converted actually want to grow and be serious about their faith – they find doing that attractive. They also find it natural to want to share that faith. Ironically, it is not the newer believers who are bucking this – it is the longer-term Christians who grew up in “churchanity” – my name for the blight of the institutional church with its consumer mentality (what can the church do for me?).

Adding to the difficulty is my blunt, “black-or-white,” “in-or-out” nature. I recognize that the gift of mercy is not high on my spiritual gifts list. In fact, it has even been said that I have the spiritual gift of irritation. I am working and praying about that flaw – I promise. Our Board of Elders called me on the carpet about it last weekend (which they should have). Leaders should not wield their authority like a big stick, which I do far too often. I was reading an article by Matt Chandler in the current Leadership Magazine and he said it best when he said, “Leaders shouldn’t wield authority, they should shepherd toward truth.” He goes on to say, “If you have to talk about your authority, you’ve probably already lost it.” Chandler says we should use authority to “shepherd” and not to “bruise.” I recognize that all too often I bruise when I lead. [Father, teach me…help me with this, I pray].

Further complicating matters is the fact that we have accelerated the pace of change at our church. I believe in every change we have made, and I believe the impetus for the changes clearly came from God. But I also recognize that NewSong does not look like the church many of our longer-term members joined. They did not sign up for this – it’s one thing to be objective and say, “This model is more biblical,” or “That definitely makes sense…” But it is another thing to have it happen to your church; few of us enjoy change.

At any rate – tomorrow the dust will begin to settle. We are asking all our members to turn in signed ministry covenants agreeing to our “Love, Grow, Share” process during worship tomorrow. We are starting with 135 adults on our membership roll. It will be interesting to see how many stick with us and how many of them look elsewhere. I take solace in knowing that those that will decide to move on are already believers and will undoubtedly find another church. Their salvation is not at stake. I also take comfort knowing that no one will leave because of the changes who is not a believer – that’s because we have few, if any, true non-believers at our church today. Hopefully that will change as we get “lean and mean” and hungry to save souls that need to know Jesus.

Death Spiral

Okay - I admit it, my "creative cooker" is not working very well these days. On top of that I am supposed to be writing my sermon for Sunday right now...at any rate - I just have to share today's post from Seth Godin. It speaks truth into my life - and into our church's life - in an amazing way.... I am cutting and pasting it here for you to read; and for me to remember.

You've probably seen it. The fish monger sees a decline in business, so they have less money to spend on upkeep and inventory, so they keep the fish a bit longer and don't clean up as often, so of course, business declines and then they have even less money... Eventually, you have an empty, smelly fish store that's out of business.

The doctor has fewer patients so he doesn't invest as much in training or staff and so some other patients choose to leave which means that there are even fewer patients...

The newspaper has fewer advertisers, so they can't invest as much in running stories, so people stop reading it, which means advertisers have less reason to advertise which leaves less money for stories...

As Tom Peters says, "You can't shrink your way to greatness," and yet that's what so many dying businesses try to do. They hunker down and wait for things to get better, but they don't. This isn't a dip, it's a cul de sac. It's over.

Right this minute, you still have some cash, some customers, some momentum... Instead of squandering it in a long, slow, death spiral, do something else. Buy a new platform. Move. Find new products for the customers that still trust you.

Change is a bear, but it's better than death.

He is Everything Glorious

Ran across this video of David Crowder singing one of my favorite songs. Enjoy and know that our God truly is "everything glorious."

What We Need

Tonight while catching up on a few of the blogs I follow I ran across this post from Mark Batterson from July 5:

"I had a revelation yesterday: the answer to every prayer is more of the Holy Spirit. Need more boldness? What you really need is more of the HS. Need more wisdom? What you really need is more of the HS. Need more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness or self-control? What you really need is more of the HS. The Holy Spirit is to the means to every spiritual end. And the good news is that God wants to give more than you want to receive. Just ask!"

Know what? He's right... Come, Holy Spirit!

If it Ain't Broke...

I have enjoyed listening to the pundits and wags go on and on about the current global economic meltdown. As everyone who hasn’t been hiding under a rock for the past couple of years knows, we are in the middle of possibly the worst recession since the Great Depression. Regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or something else, the main reasons for the recession are pretty clear: people refused to live within their means; banks got greedy and found themselves with boatloads of bad loans; the housing bubble burst; the stock market crashed; and unemployment rose. Throw in a dash of corporate corruption, a spike in oil prices, and an unpopular war and you have a sure-fire recipe for disaster.

The interesting thing I have noticed while reading about the economic mess is everyone saying, “Had the financial community, the politicians, and even ordinary consumers only realized something was wrong this would never have happened.” Had we known that something was amiss and that we were headed for a fall we would have saved more; we would have been more careful in our decision-making; we would not have bought houses we could not afford or vehicles to impress or taken extravagant vacations. We would have never invested in complex financial instruments we did not understand or “get-rich-quick” schemes. “If only we had known,” the critics claim, “then we could have avoided the pain of this economic downturn.”

I disagree. I am no financial genius, but it seems to me the handwriting was on the wall for years before the actual meltdown occurred. In fact, I vividly remember warnings that the housing bubble could burst at any time as far back as 1999 – that’s ten years ago! I have known since I was a child how important it is to save on a regular basis. Who knew that if you spend more than you make, pretty soon you are going to be in trouble? Did you? Honestly, was this really a surprise?

No, I think we are where we are today because there was a “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality when it came to the economy. Housing prices continued to rise, gas prices were fairly cheap, jobs were plentiful, corporate profits were bordering on the obscene, and the stock market was at an all-time high. Why worry? With things going that well, nobody wanted to hear someone say, “Hey...something is not right here.” But someone should have said that, right in the midst of the 'good times,' and we should have listened. Fact is, someone probably did say that, but they got drowned out because nobody wanted to hear them.

We sometimes face the same predicament in the local church. There are times when things appear to be going swimmingly in the church - they are going great; everybody is happy. But then someone does some in-depth analysis of what is really going on in the congregation, or God gives an insight, and suddenly the realization dawns, “Something is not right here.” But no one wants to hear that, so no one wants to believe it is true. The cry goes out, "Don’t rock the boat! We like it like this – we like the status quo!" "Why change anything?"

In the final analysis this ends up being simply a different verse of that same old song, “It ain’t broke, don't fix it - just leave it alone.” And so pain is sure to follow – or worse, God’s hand of blessing is removed because of that church's failure to obey His leading.

Trust me, someone out there is looking at the bigger picture and they know… they know something is broken. The question is; will we listen?

License or Legalism?

We are holding membership meetings for our upcoming ministry year and I find myself in a familiar conundrum, one I have been in many times before in my role as a pastor; the battle between the opposing poles of license and legalism when it comes to membership in the local church.

On the one hand I am grateful for anyone who comes to Christ and wants to attend our church. I hate to add requirements or rules to being a member of our church such as attending a membership class in order to join, and regular worship attendance, participation in a small group, and service on a ministry team after you do join. Why does it bother me to require these things? Mainly because I remember familiar verses Jesus spoke like, “Come to me all you who are burdened and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 emphasis mine). Jesus did not add a post script to that verse and say, “Oh, and do this, and that, and the other as well.” I am also haunted by Jesus’ sharp words to the Pharisees who he accused of being “Blind guides who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matt. 23:24). Jesus told them flat out that they were not only being unhelpful to those seeking to know God, but he said they were actually making it more difficult for people to connect with God because they were placing burdens which were not His burdens upon their shoulders.

I do not want to be legalistic – but it seems to me that in order to be faithful disciples of Christ and in order to accomplish anything as a church we need a clear standard or expectation for our members to live up to.

On the other side of the equation (license) I recall Jesus’ exhortation to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). Yes, Jesus is talking about salvation here and not church membership, but he is also clearly saying that not just anything goes. There is a path to follow to get to Him and it is not the six-lane expressway of “anything goes.” I also think of Jesus statement just below that where he says, “By their fruit you will know them” (Matt. 7:20). Believers are supposed to bear fruit; something is supposed to be happening in their lives that gives evidence of their faith. I am probably disturbed most of all by the account of the rich young ruler where Jesus clearly laid down what is expected or required, “Go and sell all you have and give it to the poor…and come follow me” (Luke 18:22) and the young man walked away. When he did Jesus did not chase after him and say, “Oh, I’m sorry, is that too difficult? Is that too much to ask? Then don’t worry about it.” No, Jesus let the man walk away. Jesus set the bar at a certain height and said that is the standard. Is that legalism? I don’t think so.

I confess that by nature I am more of a legalist than a license kind of guy. I am more afraid of the “anything goes” side of the pendulum than the "that's too hard for them." I heard Chuck Swindoll quote Francis Schaeffer on the radio tonight talking about what Schaeffer called the “great evangelical disaster” which is Christianity’s current propensity to accommodate the culture it exists in. Anything and everything goes because Jesus was “full of grace” so we should be too. Yes Jesus was full of mercy and grace, but he also had expectations – He had a standard. As a trophy of that grace myself I understand my life must be different than it was before he changed me and different than those around me.

And so the battle rages on in my heart and soul. Are we placing higher expectations on church members’ lives than even Jesus would? Shouldn’t we just be happy they are attending? Or should we set the bar where we believe Jesus would and then let them walk away if they won’t agree to that standard? It is a tough choice to make, but ultimately someone has to make that choice. What would you do?

Pelican in Peril

We had an exciting afternoon at the beach. I was out in the water just floating around and I saw this guy chasing a pelican that was swimming fairly close to shore. I was thinking, “What’s with that guy? Leave the poor bird alone.” About that time I noticed several others were making their way through the water toward the bird. A lady said, “Did you see that pelican? He has a water bottle stuck in his throat!” I said, “No way,” but then noticed you could tell it did. You could even see the blue label of the water bottle through the skin on the bird’s enlarged neck.

Being a bird-lover I immediately joined the rescue effort with the guy in the lead. Unfortunately, just when it looked as though the bird was corralled it flew about 100 yards further out in the water, well beyond our reach in deeper water. Sadly we returned to the beach. The guy who was in the lead got his cell phone and began calling around to see if any wildlife people could come and save the bird. He did not have much success. About 20 minutes later I looked down the beach and noticed the bird had moved closer into shore. I walked down the beach and swam out to the bird, all the while trying to calm it by speaking to it. I got very close – I even touched its tail, before the bird flew again. Just then I looked up and here came the guy who had earlier tried to rescue the pelican to help me. Donna said that when he saw me get so close he began running down the beach to help me.

The guy and I made two more attempts to rescue the bird before it finally flew way beyond our reach in deeper water and we gave up and walked back to our chairs. I introduced myself on our walk back down the beach and found out he was from Minnesota. He was a real nice guy with a lovely family.

I went back to the house and got a snack before returning to the beach where Donna remained. I said, “Let’s walk down the beach and see if we see the pelican again.” Sure enough, we did, and it was closer than ever to shore. It also looked a lot weaker. We turned around and went back to get my Minnesota friend, but his family was packing up to go inside so he did not join me. Donna and I then walked down the beach and when we got near where the pelican was I asked a young man walking on the beach if he would help me. The young man agreed to help so we began wading out to the bird and this time the pelican let me get close enough to grab him. The young man then helped me by holding the bird’s wings while I squeezed its neck from below, forcing the bottle up toward his large mouth. All the while, of course, the pelican was trying to peck me. Finally I saw the top of the plastic water bottle so I reached in and grabbed it and pulled it out. The pelican then tried to take the bottle away from me again (I suppose he was protecting his “catch”).

We released the bird after I got the bottle out and it flew out a ways in the water, seemingly relieved. Several people in the water nearby who were, no doubt, wondering why two guys were attacking a pelican, began cheering and clapping when they saw the rescue and me holding the bottle.

We waited and watched a while and eventually saw the rescued pelican fly off looking none-the-worse for the trial it had undergone. All in all it was an exciting event as you might imagine. The photo above is of me holding the water bottle the bird had stuck in its throat.

Someday

I saw a great T-Shirt today. Here is what it had written on it

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

See, there is no “someday”

I did not purchase the T-shirt, but I agree with the sentiment. Unfortunately many of us spend our lives just going through the motions waiting for “someday” to come. Someday I will get a new job. Someday I will finish my degree. Someday I will deal with my addiction. Someday I will apologize. Someday I will forgive. Someday I will get in shape. Someday I will be happy. Someday I will _____________________________ (you fill in the blank).

The rash of celebrity deaths in recent days reminds us that even for the rich and famous our days may be cut short and we may run out of time before our someday arrives.

Here’s a thought. Why not make today be your someday?

Why put it off any longer?

When I was a child and had a band-aid on that needed to be changed I would try to painlessly ease the adhesive away from my skin. But that never worked. Sometimes you just need to grit your teeth and rip it off and get it over with. It actually hurts less that way. For you see, "Much of the pain of pain lies in the anticipation of the pain rather than the pain itself" (with apologies to Mike Brady).

I don’t know who I am writing this to tonight – it is late and I need to go to sleep. Perhaps I am writing to myself, or maybe I am writing to you. It does not matter. Truth is truth. Someday never comes. Make today be your someday and you won’t regret it. Deal with whatever it is that needs to be dealt with. Pray about it, make a decision, and then step into the pain and move on with your plan. There is no someday... there is only today.

Each Day is Special, God Made It So

God can be seen every day by the seashore. Look in any direction, and there He is.

I see Him in the clockwork precision of the tides, ebbing and flowing right on schedule every day, day after day, year after year. I see Him in the orderly rising and setting of the sun and the moon, and in the course of the stars as they make their way across the heavens each night. I see Him in the refreshing late-afternoon showers that wash away the heat of the day and clear the crowds off the beaches. I see Him in the beautiful patterned shells, strewn in a kaleidoscope of color on the pristine sugar-white sand in the golden light of early morning. I see Him in the waves as they relentlessly tumble up on land and then gently retreat back into the sea. I see Him in the wind and its daily shift from sea breeze in the daytime to land breeze at night.

I see Him in the pod of dolphins frolicking just off the pier, with a baby dolphin doing its best to stick close to its mother, mimicking her every move. I see Him in the bright flash of color as the mackerel and other fish strike my lure while I am fishing; and in even in their eyes as they peer up at me once I have caught them before I release them to fight another angler on another day.

I see Him in the flight of laughing gulls as they return to roost each night, winging their way across the island as the sun sets. I see His hand in the unique way each of the shorebirds knows exactly where, when, and how to catch its next meal; the sandpipers and sanderlings dancing with the waves as they pluck crustaceans from the wet sand, the terns as they hover motionless above the surf before dive-bombing unsuspecting fish below; the pelicans as they crash into the surf, mouth agape, filling their pouch with minnows; the black skimmer using its elongated beak to skim small fish from the water as it flies just above the surface of the water; and the stealthy great blue heron stalking its prey along the water’s edge knowing just when to strike in order to catch an unlucky shiner.

The seashore is a microcosm of the larger world and like the stars and planets and tides and wildlife, each one is imprinted with beauty and precision by the Maker’s hand. How sad it is that we often live our days unknowingly, our hours slipping by, our minds and spirits oblivious to God’s order, His provision, His purposes, and the gift of life that each day brings. When I return home, perhaps I will remember these times by the seashore and remember that each day is unique and each day is precious.

"Captain" Steve

I know many of you have been holding your breath wondering if I ever got the boat started down here. Well, good news, I did! Actually I had to call someone Don and Myralyn knows down here (Bob Kelly) and he met me at the boat and he checked out a few things. Finally he sat down and tried to crank it and the boat was doing the same thing, just turning over but not firing. As I watched Bob I noticed a little red thingie (not a precise nautical term) below the throttle. I asked Bob what it was and he said, "Oh, that's the kill switch so the boat will cut off in case the driver gets knocked out of the boat." Then he flipped a toggle switch on the little thingie the other way and the boat cranked right up. It was that simple.

At any rate, I took the boat out into the bay for a spin then called Donna on the way back in and asked if she wanted to go out and, surprisingly, she agreed. So I picked her up at the dock and we went back out and drove around the canals and the bay for about 30 minutes.

The thing about boating down here is there are specific channels in the bays, canals, and in the intercoastal waterway that you have to stay in because the water is so shallow in spots. Once I figured out where the channels were (by watching other people) everything was fine.

So, this is "Captain" Steve signing out for a while. I hope to check back in later - I am going back out in the boat before lunchtime. Until then..... Yo ho ho, it's a seaman's life for me!

Independence Day Part Deux

Okay, so I beat Donna like a drum in Ping Pong - I mean I nailed her and she usually beats me.

Then we went down the street to the annual AMI Privateers Independence Day parade. It was pretty neat. They throw more beads than candy, ala Mardi Gras. We got plenty of them as you can see from the ones around my neck in the photo.

I know you are enjoying these practically hourly reports. About to go to the beach. Life is good.

Happy Independence Day!

Woke up this morning to beautiful skies on AMI - after morning coffee and time with the Lord I headed to the City Pier to cast a few times. Caught a nice mackerel. Then I took a bike ride, tried to get the boat started (again) and headed back to the house.

About to beat Donna in ping pong.

Happy 4th everyone!

PS - the photo above is City Pier at sunrise - beautiful boat anchored just off the pier.

Morning Reverie

This morning I walked from our place all the way down the beach to the pier at the Manatee County public beach. That is quite a long walk for an old guy like me. This photo is my footprints looking back towards our place. At any rate, it was great watching people begin their day by setting up their umbrellas and all the paraphernalia you need to spend a few hours at the beach. I also saw the early morning fishermen and a few joggers and shell collectors.

One thing I have noticed is several instances of what I call beach reverie. Reverie is such a great word, isn’t it? It means to be “lost in thought” or “absent-minded daydreaming.” This happens all the time at the beach. You see people sitting or standing looking out to sea with a smile on their face and who knows what on their mind. There is something magical about doing that. Your mind kind of melds with God and nature and you are swept away to another place and time. There is something eternal about it; something infinite. Birds do it too – I especially wonder what is on a bird’s mind as it stands facing into the wind looking toward the horizon.



Speaking of birds, there are tons of seashore and wading birds on AMI. This morning I saw several species of them on my extended walk. I saw a couple of blue herons, tons of laughing gulls, a few egrets, three or four white ibis, a few common terns dive-bombing the shallows for fish, and of course, a brown pelican or two. You also see other species here including herring gulls and black skimmers. The photo above is a great blue heron that was standing by the pier. The bird did not seem scared of me whatsoever and I am grateful. It was awesome to stand so close to such a magnificent creature and look into its eyes.

Today I am going to go over and see if I can get Don’s boat started and tootle around the canals a bit. I am definitely not comfortable with this. For one, the boat is totally unfamiliar to me and for another, the water is so shallow in many places it is easy to run aground. In case you see no more posts for the next few days it means I did not make it back – please send the Coast Guard! More later (hopefully!) …. Steve

AMI

I am back on Anna Maria Island this 2009 Fourth of July week. I am sorry for everyone else who still slaving away at work back home – but this trip will be our last hurrah before a very busy fall, so I am not feeling too bad about it. I am going to try to get back into the habit of blogging this week, although my blogs will probably not be work-related as much as they will be life-related (which brings up the idea of a great blog about why we tend to compartmentalize our lives and the age-old question of “why can’t we live like we’re on vacation every day?”). Right now it is raining outside, so I am inside writing this.

I digress – let me begin by giving a little info about where we are. First of all, we are here mainly because Donna’s parents own a house here and so coming down is a very inexpensive getaway (basically just our gas to get down here and what we spend on food). I know, I am cheap, but I like to think of it as being a “really good steward of our resources.” (Thanks Don and Myralyn!)

What about Anna Maria Island itself? Anna Maria, known locally as simply AMI, is a beautiful seven-mile long Island that sits at the entrance to Tampa Bay. It’s about a 9-hour drive from our home north of Atlanta to here, but it is practically all expressway (mostly I-75), and always worth the drive. The best way I know to describe the island is to say it has the beautiful turquoise water like the Destin/Panama City Beach area, coupled with the “island feel” you get in St. Simons (some of you will be familiar with these comparisons). The pace here is very low-key and laid-back. There are no fast food restaurants, no high-rises and it is not nearly as crowded as the afore-mentioned beaches. The feel of AMI is often compared to the Florida Keys, without all the weirdness. Around here you see plenty of palm trees, hibiscus, oleander, lizards, pelicans, sea gulls, bicyclists, sea-turtle nests, and gorgeous sunsets. There is always something to do on AMI – but there is also no need to feel guilty if you just want to sit under an umbrella on the beach and read a good book.

Okay, okay, I realize I sound like a travel guide now, so I will stop, but honestly, it is a great place to relax and unwind. I have been here less than 24 hours now and I am beginning to start to relax – it takes a while for me. Once the rain stops and I can get back outside and get some sand between my toes, I will begin the process of unwinding the coil that is usually wound so tight in me. I will be writing more soon…