Cliff Walks and Sea Swims

Last night I caught a lift home from one of my basketball teammates.  In the course of our conversation, he told me that he loves to swim and dive in the sea and he invited me to join him sometime.  He mentioned a place he likes to swim called Howth (a peninsula on the north side of Dublin Bay).  Since his grandfather lived out on Howth, it resonates with him in a special way.  I mentioned to him that I had been out to Howth on multiple occasions and that I had done some of the cliff walks overlooking the sea.  He was pleasantly surprised that I've already taken advantage of being so close to such a scenic location.  He's amazed that so many north Dubliners live just down the road from Howth and yet have never done the cliff walks.  He'll take some of his friends and neighbors out from time to time to swim in the sea or to hike around the peninsula and they always exclaim that they never knew how beautiful their own part of Ireland could be.

Isn't it amazing how much we take for granted?  People can live in some of the most beautiful locations on earth and never stop to appreciate God's creation.  It's often the tourists who take advantage of the most culturally relevant offerings of a city.  The locals never seem to find the time.  Christians are sometimes so busy waiting on life in the age to come that they miss out on what God has available to them in this life and in this age.  I wonder if when we begin that new life in the new creation, we'll look back in amazement at how much of the new age we could have already experienced back in the old one. - Shay