Just finished spending a week in the not-so-big town of Point Arena, California. Its claim to fame is the Point Arena Lighthouse and of course, the ocean. And when the ocean meets land there are beaches.

These are not your Caribbean, Gilligan’s Island type beaches. These are public lands and are not groomed. When you go to the beach here, expect some huge seaweed piles washed up and driftwood from small twigs to big logs. So my hike up 5 Mile Beach was not as easy as it would seem.

Yes, is the answer to the question you are thinking. The beach is 5 miles long. The access to the south part of the beach isn’t at the beginning. And there is a short walk over a couple of dunes to get there.

A cool breeze and a temp about 50 when I start my walk northward. My camera and my lunch and water in the pack on my back and off I go. Around the seaweed piles and dodging the incoming waves, I make my way. The sound of the ocean is all I hear as the waves break on the rocks and slide up the beach.

I watch the waves and start taking pictures as I hike along. I always get carried away taking pictures. And as I watched the waves, some grew higher and higher. Most were probably about the 6-foot range but some had to be 10 feet high or better! Seeing something that awesome and powerful, you seem so little and insignificant.

Then I start to think about Jesus and when He was on the boat in the storm. That was only in the Sea of Galilee but I am sure it is capable of making waves 10 feet tall too. I would have been as scared as the disciples were. Jesus had not been worried in the least. He is sleeping right through all the waves and wind. Jesus wakes up to the desperate calls of His disciples. With only 3 words Jesus makes the sea calm. It is now as smooth as glass.

The same Jesus who calms the storm with His voice can also calm the ocean waves. There are times in our lives when the waves seem about to overwhelm us, to send us to the bottom of the sea but Jesus, our Savior, speaks to our hearts and calms the storm within us and the storm around us.

Next week we continue our walk up the beach.