Posts Tagged: Circles of influence

“A ‘Chance’ Encounter on the Beach”

On February 22, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer


It all began with a long walk and run—mostly a walk—to Coquina Beach from Manatee Beach.  I was walking along the shaded walkway that runs along the beach, listening to the You Version Bible, using my smart phone and earbuds.  Every now and again, I looked out at the gulf.  One time when I looked, I saw a beached sand shark.  I decided to have a closer look.

Okay, so it wasn’t really a beached sand shark.  It was a shark sculpted by someone using sand.  It was quite nicely done.  The artist had even put some shells on the shark to simulate barnacles.

After admiring the shark, I walked for a while on the beach.  A lady was hunting for shells at the edge of the water.

“Finding any good shells?” I asked.  It was just a friendly question, not meant as a lead-in to a deep-water conversation.

“Yes,” she replied, holding out several very fine shells.  (They appeared to be fighting conch shells, but I have not yet begun to fight my ignorance about marine life.)

The lady seemed to be open to a more lengthy conversation.  People at the beach often are.  Something about being away from your usual dailiness, I suppose.  So I said, “Just a moment, and let me put the Scriptures on hold.”

“Oh!” she said, “I am trying to read through the Bible this year!”  But then she looked a little ashamed and said, “I started off the year well, but I have a two-and-a-half-year-old little guy, and . . .” she trailed off.

“Oh, my, well maybe you had better adopt the two- or three- or five-year Bible reading plan,” I said.

We chatted for a little while about small children and potty training and the Bible and its frustratingly wonderful properties.  It turns out that she is a writer, who hardly has time to write.  She has volunteered to write for her church newsletter, and I told her that was a good idea.  “Robert Fulghum’s published writing began as pieces he wrote for his church newsletter.”  She did not immediately recognize the author’s name, but immediately reacted when I spoke of his first and greatest book—All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

“I love that book!” she exclaimed.

I spoke of just writing a little each day, even if it is a very short sentence.  I spoke of being willing to write badly so that you could learn to write better.  I spoke of Stephen Covey’s concept of working in your circle of influence, rather than in your circle of concern.  In other words, I was speaking to myself as much as I was to the lady.

Before we parted, I had prayer for her on the beach.  She offered me one of the three shells she had collected, the largest, most perfectly formed one.  I turned it down, but took the smallest one.  “But it’s broken,” she protested.  “I know,” I replied.

The whole encounter took maybe fifteen minutes.  Nothing profound was spoken by me.  Nevertheless, I felt—and I think the lady also felt—that it was what David Mains of the Fifty Day Spiritual Adventure would call “a God sighting.”  Our meeting was not an accident.

We are not often called to do big things or to say profound things.  Sometimes, we are just called to have an encouraging conversation with someone.  And, in the long run, that can be more profound than we know.

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