Settling in to SD

I'm already to day 5 in San Diego (though I was in the OC yesterday for Memorial Day) and it's been a fun last few days. Here's what I've been doing:



-Dinner with Steven and his fam (pastor of Harbor Uptown & Downtown)
-Friday night meeting of a Campus Ministry @ UCSD with the name of Little Spark
-Ultimate Frisbee in Balboa Park
-Strolling the Beach at La Jolla
-Visiting Harbor Chula Vista for their Sunday AM service
-Lunch with Russ and his fam (pastor of Harbor Chula Vista)
-1st Sunday evening service at Harbor Uptown
-Memorial Day in Cypress (BBQ @ Ted & Randa's, disc golf with Austin & Scott and they beat me, Tri-tip NERTS and Chris Tomlin bowling video () with Mom, Dad, Krista, & Aaron)



This morning I left my parents house around 6am to try and beat traffic on the way back down to SD and got back in time to hang out at Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs. While there I was offered weed twice within 100 yards of cops, watched the pelicans dive in to catch fish, people fishing off the peer, surfers thrashing, and then stood for close to an hour watching, listening, and feeling the the waves crashing against the rocks and the ocean mist blowing against my face. I could have stood on those rocks for hours more enjoying the beauty and power of the ocean, but work was calling. Seeing the expanse of the ocean and the continual pounding of the waves against the rocks reminded me of the passage in Ephesians 3 where Paul prays for the church to understand the length, breadth, depth, and height of God's love. God's love is greater than anything I can imagine, even the great Pacific Ocean that I love so much. This brings to mind the hymn, the love of God that speaks of the ocean as ink not being enough to write of all God's love,

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.



After leaving the beach I went to the downtown office for Harbor and met with Russ and got a packet explaining more of my internship and had some questions answered before hopping in to a couple meetings for Harbor Uptown and Midtown. These meetings were helpful to show the heart of Harbor and their focus on prayer to seek the Lord for what they do. We also discussed the the parable of the Lost Sons (Luke 15) and in that process of reading and discussing the text I couldn't help but see the exceptional love of the father for both his sons and the exceptional ways he showed it. He loved them when they both wanted to get away from him. Just like the ocean waves continuing to crash on the rocks the father continued to love on the sons that stood against him. The ocean of God's love continues to crash upon me and I look forward to experiencing his love and grace afresh this summer while interning at Harbor.