Look at these beautiful beaches! These are the waters, and sand, and seashore that is less that 100 miles from my home. The sand is pure white…and soft…and like sugar. The water is blue, and green, and cobalt. There is some seaweed…some times more than others. There are little fish that will nibble on your toes. All along the beach, there are stands of sea oats. Don’t pick them! It’s against the law. If you sit on the beach and look back toward the houses…you will see all manner of steps leading up to the highway. Some are new and sturdy. Some are barely holding together…no one cares to fix them…they just go to the next one down.

This is my beach. This is where I would go for Spring Break (when Mom and Pop would let me). This is where I used to love to walk out on the big pier in Panama City. This is where youth from our church would spend a week or two every summer. This is my beach! I love it! This is where I came the day after my 16th birthday. I had a brand new Chevrolet Camaro, and 3 friends in the car. I still remember having to call my Pop and tell him that a car full of boys had rammed my car in the rear! “Are y’all OK?,” he asked. We were. “Can you still drive the car?,” he asked next. We could. “Well, go on and enjoy your day and we’ll see about the car when you get home. Call me if you need me.” We did…go on and have a good day. Oh, I remember the feeling….16…new car…new bikini…cute boyfriend. Life was good…at my beach! (I was much older than 16 in the pic below…in case you wondered)

This is where Don and I would bring our boys when they were young. Oh, how they loved to go to the beach. They would swim all day. And, at night, we would all go to Miracle Strip Amusement Park…a sort of mini fair, where they could ride and eat and have the time of their lives. Later a wonderful water park was built, Shipwreck Island…and then our time had to be divided between there and the beach! Sweet, sweet memories!

And, I HATE what is going to happen to my beach. I think this is a tragedy beyond measure. And, there are beaches in Alabama, in Louisiana, in Mississippi that are in just as sad a shape. The water, the fish, the birds, the sand…the people. How sad for those that make their living from the ocean, whether fishing or tourism. And, since Obama has closed down drilling, more than 20,000 jobs are gone. It is sad, my friends. It is a tragedy.

” Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host,
the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein,
and thou preservest them all;
and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” Nehemiah 9:6

Please pray for our beaches and the people who make their living from them and the countless others who enjoy them.