Straight from the Ocean

It's time to roll out the grill, brush off the dust and fire it up!  The weather has been absolutely perfect for the past few days - now that the rain has passed over - and I have such a yearning for anything grilled!  I will eat just about anything at all that has been cooked over fire.  One of the more memorable grilled foods I've eaten would have to be the lobster that Wayne and I ate on our honeymoon in Mexico....

We had rented a little Volkswagen beetle...I'm not even going into that story because it has a life of its own...and we drove out to see Tulum, one of the most beautiful spots on the planet.  We had such a great time on the coast there that we decided spontaneously to stay overnight somewhere nearby.  We stopped at a few places but settled in on a site that had a few grass huts directly on the beach.  (You should be picturing something along the lines of "Gilligan's Island" here).  It could not have been more primitive.  We arrived after dark, and the kitchen was closed, but we wanted dinner, so the little Mexican man who checked us in ran out to the ocean, lifted a lobster trap and pulled out 2 lobsters.  He ran back to the fire and laid them on and went after some butter.  That was it.  We ate fresh lobster, straight out of the ocean, grilled over fire and dipped in butter.  It was heavenly!  The location was amazing, the food was great...even the little huts were so romantic that we almost forgot that we were completely covered in sand...that is until the deafening roar of the ocean woke us up around 4:30 and sent us on our way back to our original hotel suite.

I am amazed at the abundance of seafood in the ocean, and all of it is spectacular when prepared over fire.  The combination of the water, the salt and the fire are wonderful, aren't they?  If you think about it, that's always a good combo.  We are to be the salt of the earth, the ingredient that brings purity, stability and health.  The Spirit of God brings a refreshing, not unlike water, and the power of God's infilling presence is a fire that ignites our spirits and brings life to every situation.  What a great recipe!  When we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and allow His work in our lives, we become efficient in our saltiness!  We bring life and refreshing everywhere we go.  And just like seafood, the closer we are to the source, the better.  If we begin to wander too far from the life-giving Spirit of God, we tend to get that lingering odor of something gone bad.  But when we stay near to the presence of God, we become the spectacular sustenance to the hungry world around us.