I’m a pirate.  I cannot help it.  I crave time spent at sea.  Few things do it for me like sitting on a sandy bank staring out into the wide-open ocean, listening to the voice of the roaring sea.  The first gulp of air an unfurled sail gathers to its big white lungs, breathes power and life both to a sailboat’s journey and to the heartstrings inside of me.  I could walk a beach picking shells for hours.  I could drift about on the flat of a salty current losing myself in the spectacle of the ocean’s night sky without hesitation, forgetting the demands and needs of everyday life.  I’ve often looked out on that infinite horizon line, wondering who or what calls me out into the deep.  There is no easier way to rest than to hammock yourself between two palms, or drop anchor and rock to sleep in a tide-tossed lullaby.  I have sailor’s blood.  The sea sings a song I can feel.  I’m an ocean nut.

            If you came to my house, you might think I go a bit overboard.  I have jars of sand, shells, and driftwood sticks from all over this side of the world in every room.  A treasured collection, each specimen labeled underneath tells many stories from my life.  My adventures are attached to relics I’ve picked up, jarred memories in glass of different shapes.  Some of my favorites include a conch shell from the British Virgin Islands, a jar of whitewashed coral from Antigua, and a gorgeous marbled rock from the jagged shores of Maine. 

            I make a point to get a shell from each beach I visit.  Sometimes it’s hard, but usually there is at least one out there.  In cases where shells are snatched up offshore by reefs or sandbars, I find something else unique to the beach I am at, something meaningful in other ways. Driftwood from Lake Tahoe, a coconut from the Florida Keys, a priceless white shell gifted to me from Haiti, these serve as reminders of the life journey I’ve traveled.  I leave a piece of me at each beach I visit, and take a piece of it home in return.

            In all the findings I have collected, none are as unique as sea glass.  

            In the event that I can find a piece of sea glass, I usually bubble with excitement, as it can be a rare find. The curiosity of such a simple find, a mere piece of broken glass worn smooth by endless seasons of tides, brings a joy inside that other beach combings don’t bring.  Sea glass in itself is special; it is rare.  Most beaches you cannot even find a single piece.  If you can, it is usually one of a kind.

            There are exceptions.  I have been to a beach in Bermuda where you are more likely to step on sea glass than sand.  At first sight, my eyes almost falling out, the amount of sea glass on the shores of the small island totally baffled me.  I suppose it to be due from the history of shipwrecks that dot the surrounding surf, as maps indicate the plethora of tragedies that beheld the semi-tropical surroundings.  The fabled legendary waters of Bermuda have been the site of loss and heartache for many a sailor, as the watery grave has opened its mouth to receive broken vessels for ages.  According to foreverbermuda.com, there have been over 300 shipwrecks in the small surrounding waters, and the island of Bermuda has been labeled as the “Shipwreck Capital of the Atlantic.”

            When I visited Bermuda, I was not aware that such a beach existed.  A local spoke of seeing sea glass, and my attention was perked.  Seeing it in person was simply astonishing to someone who had never seen such a sight.  Accustomed to the need to endlessly search a strip of sand for hours to find just one small piece, this beach could not be walked without tramping on thousands, maybe millions of the broken round shapes and colors.  Trekking through the seemingly unbelievable shoreline of glass, another local was there searching among the throngs for something special too.  Here, where sea glass was nothing short of common and plentiful, she was searching for a blue piece, the color with the most significance.  “Blue glass is from medicine bottles,” she told me. “Medicine bottle glass from the shipwrecks out there are the rare ones to find.”  She cared not to even pick up any other color.

            This makes me think.

            There are people all over the planet who have been beaten and battered by the waves of an afflicted life.  Many of the readers of this blog have come back to continue to read because it is a place to gain strength in a world that is full of troubles.  Many of us feel like our lives have been so jumbled, so broken, so jostled all around, that there is no hope to have things beautiful again.  Is this the truth?  

            After a recent Sunday Service at LifeSpring Church, I felt the voice of God’s Spirit tugging on my heart in a special way. Our pastor was speaking about how a rock tumbler works, and when the service was almost ready to close, a very clear and purposeful message was massaged into my heart and mind. The single greatest object of my beach combing affection- the treasured find of sea glass, only occurs at the expence of someone else’s shipwreck. Wow. I was speechless.

            In my life, I have seen nothing short of the same.

            When you hold a piece of sea glass up to admire, what are you actually holding?  When the light bounces inside of it in all its wet and polished glory, what is it that your eyes behold?  That moment that you catch its glimpse, when the bubbles of your heart and soul explode because you have actually come across such a discovery, what is it that you have actually found?  It may look like a thing of beauty to you, but it came at the hardship of someone else.  Each small piece of treasured sea glass holds a story from another time and age, one most likely found in misfortune.  It may look like a precious find on a paradise shore, but it started with someone else’s shipwreck.  Pain, loss, suffering, and hardship… these words are all uncomfortable to us. Nobody wants to go through them or endure them.  We run from trouble.  We don’t invite it.  

            Sometimes we still are entangled in it.

            Today’s post was written for those who need a hand of encouragement.  Your struggle, your pain, your hardship, and your afflictions are not unnoticed by our King.  Even in times that you don’t understand why you are going through something, or scratch your heads as to why something bad has happened, you can be assured that in the end, God will stand back to admire you.  Your “shipwreck,” that thing in life that you can’t comprehend why it has befallen you, it is only the beginning.  It is not the end.  Don’t give up.  

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

            Are you someone experiencing loss, grief, or other emotional struggles?  God has not brought these hardships on you (we live in a fallen world), but He most certainly can turn a bad situation around.  There is not a situation or circumstance that you are going through that God can’t do something with… for your good.  Although no hardship is fun while we are in the middle of it, we can take courage, if our eyes are fixed on Jesus.

James 1:2-4 tells us to hang on!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

1 Peter 1:6-9

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Finally, 1 Peter 4:12-13

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

            You might be thinking, “Please… you don’t know what I’ve gone through!”  If that is the case, just know that I’m a piece of sea glass that has been battered around for quite a while… and I know what I’m talking about.  God can take any shipwreck, and make sea glass out of it.  If He can do it with me, He can sure do it with you too. The trouble is, are you willing to let Him.

            Because of the obedience of others who have endured shipwrecks in their own lives, my faith is made stronger. Some of my most important life coaches and mentors are the men and women who have had the worst wrecks, the most damage, on the sharpest rocky crags of the fiercest storms. The shipwrecks that they have allowed God to turn around, making them more solid in their faith, have been a blessing to me. I can enjoy their beauty as they shine as a mature and polished Christian. My challenge today is to stand with your head high.  You might be stuck in the middle of a fierce storm.  Your ship might be sinking.  Your ship might already be wrecked in the sharp clutches of a shallow coral reef.  Your boat may be long forgotten, and you might be reaching and grabbing for anything to clutch. You may be swirling around in the currents of a mighty ocean swell.  But there is hope.  God can take what has happened and turn it into something that not only glorifies Himself, but shines you up as a precious gem in the process.  Will you allow Him to take you, a broken piece of glass, and make something beautiful out of you?  Will you allow the shipwreck of the life you live and breathe to be turned into something that gives others hope?  Can your life mean something priceless to someone else? Will you stand with your head held high knowing that God isn’t finished with you yet?  Will you allow God to glorify you into someone who can bless other people around you?  Will you let Him use your life to brighten someone else’s face? Can you trust Him?

Allow God to turn you into a blessing to another’s soul.

He will perfect you.

He will make you a precious find for someone else.

If you let Him,

You will be someone else’s sea glass.

For me? I think I'll be a blue piece of medicine.

By Chuck Carr