The next morning Kris and Kell did not know what to do. They had not received any instructions about their next adventure. After they got up and ate breakfast, they went down to their rental car, and they found an envelope underneath the windshield wiper! They opened the envelope and there was a simple note that said, ‘Drive the rental car to Cannon Beach in Oregon.’ Kell looked up Cannon Beach on her tablet and found that they could drive there in about seven hours, so they packed the car and began to drive.
Seven hours later they got to Cannon Beach, Oregon. As they were driving down the main street of town, they saw a big sign in front of a big house! The sign said, “Kris and Kell, stop here!” Kris stopped the car, and they knocked on the door of the house. They found out that the house was an Airbnb and they had reservations for the next two nights!
The next morning, they decided to take a walk along the beach! The scenery was incredible, and they saw a huge rock that was close to the beach. They found out that the rock was called Haystack Rock, and it was a very famous rock!
This large rock is probably the most famous rock in the whole state or Oregon. Haystack Rock is a type of rock called a ‘Sea Stack’. A Sea Stack is a rock that used to be connected to the rocks and cliffs on the shore. Over time, the waves of the ocean started to cause erosion on the rock, and eventually the waves wore a hole through the rock, and formed an arch, with one end of the arch out in the ocean, and the other end of the arch attached to the cliffs.
Over time, the crashing waves wore away the rock on top of the arch, and the arch collapsed. Now the part of the rock in the ocean is no longer attached to the shore, and that rock is called a Sea Stack! Haystack Rock is very old, and its arch collapsed a long time ago, so Haystack Rock sits by itself out in the ocean. An interesting feature of Haystack Rock is that when the ocean is at low tide, there is enough dry ground so that a person can walk out to Haystack Rock.
When Kris and Kell got to the beach, it was low tide and people were walking out to Haystack Rock. Kris and Kell also began walking out to Haystack Rock.
Along the way there were small pools of water left behind by the ocean, and in these pools, there were fish, and Kris even saw some starfish! Kris was very interested in looking at the starfish in the pools. He leaned too close to the water, slipped and fell into the pool of water! All the people were laughing at Kris. When Kris got out of the pool, he was soaking wet and covered with muddy sand, he did not smell too good either!
Kell told Kris that he needed to go back to their Airbnb, take a shower and put on clean clothes. Kell would go and look at Haystack Rock and wait there for Kris to come back.
When Kell got to Haystack Rock, she was surprised by all the birds that lived on the rock. Many types of sea birds lived on the large rock. People are not allowed to climb on the rock because they would damage the nests and habitat of all the birds that live there. The most unusual bird that Kell saw was the Tufted Puffin. This was a very unusual and colorful bird. Many of them live on the top of Haystack Rock.
Kell spent a lot of time watching the puffins and the other birds. Kris still had not gotten back and Kell was getting tired, so she sat down in the shade of the rock to rest. Kell did not mean to fall asleep, but she did. Kell dreamed that she was floating in the ocean on a sunny day, and suddenly she heard Kris yell, “Wake up sleepyhead before you drown!” Kell woke up suddenly and found that she was in the ocean! The tide had started to come in while she was asleep! Kris was standing on the shore and laughing at her, and he said, “Now you are the one who needs to take a shower and put on clean clothes!”
Lesson Learned about God
That night after Kell had gotten cleaned up and dried off, they sat in their bedroom and talked about what they had learned that day about Sea Stacks. Sea Stacks are caused by erosion. The power of the continually moving water wears away the rock and causes an arch to form. The waves do not stop, and eventually they wear away the arch and cause it to collapse into the water and the Sea Stack is all that is left. The moving water will also eventually wear away a Sea Stack. Someday Haystack Rock will be worn away and will not be there anymore. This action of the moving water is called erosion.
Kell said, “Erosion is not good for rocks or for soils, but it is also not good to have erosion in a person’s life.” Kris did not understand what Kell was trying to say, so she explained it to him.
“When a person first believes in Jesus and asks Him to come into their life and forgive their sins, they usually become very excited about being a Christian. Jesus is the most important thing in their life, and they cannot believe that they had tried to live their life without Jesus! As time goes by, the excitement starts to fade away; they get distracted by many things around them in the world and often problems come into their life causing them to not have as much love for Jesus as they did at first. Their ‘first love’ for Jesus has been eroded away just like the water erodes the rock. It is a sad thing to have your love for Jesus eroded away!
There is a difference between a rock and a person! A rock can never change back to the way it was before the erosion, but a person can regain their ‘first love’ for Jesus!
In the Bible in Revelation 2:4-5a Jesus says:
“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love Me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to Me and do the works you did at first.”
When a person realizes that their ‘first love’ for Jesus has eroded away, they can turn back to Jesus and have their close relationship with Him restored.
In the Bible in Psalms 51:10-12 it says:
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.
Report to the grandmother:
- At the travel agency – God has a good plan for us. Jeremiah 29:11
- Florida – God is watching over us, we do not need to be fearful. Psalms 23
- Wisconsin – Temptations. I Corinthians 10:13, Proverbs 14:12, I John 1:9
- Minnesota – Never take your eyes off Jesus. Matthew 14:22-33
- Kentucky – God’s Word (the Bible) is the truth! John 17:17
- Louisianna – Choose Heaven and the Tree of Life. Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:27 thru 22:5
- Illinois – God is in control. Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28-30, Proverbs 16:9
- New Mexico – God is our place of safety. Psalms 46:1-3, Psalms 91:1-2, Psalms 18:1-2, John 14:1-3
- Alabama – Training for heaven. I Peter 1:18-21, I John 3:2-3, Ephesians 5:1-2, I Peter 2:21, II Timothy 4:6-8
- Georgia – Sin erodes a person’s life and brings death. Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 3:22-25a
- Texas – Jesus offers abundant life. John 10:10, Mark 12:29-31.
- Kansas – Humans are filled with hatred and evil. Genesis 8:21-22, Romans 3:21-25a.
- South Carolina – Reminder of the Crucifixion. Isaiah 53:3-9
- Arkansas – Jesus is Crowned with Glory and Honor. Hebrews 2:9-10, Revelation 19:16, John 11:25-26
- Idaho – Times of Refreshing. Acts 3:19-20a, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 40:28-31
- Washington State – Obeying God is Important! James 1:22-25, James 4:17
- Oregon – Do not let your first love for Jesus erode. Revelation 2:4-5a, Psalms 51:10-12