Before I share this story I want to apologise to my AMAZING Gran-in-law for sharing it with you all.
A couple of years ago I witnessed one the most hilarious things I have ever seen, Christy’s Gran and Papa came to visit us, and one of the days they were here we set off to visit Port Isaac, the location of the much loved Doc Martin. I have never watched the show but they were fans and thought it would be cool to go and see what it was like, and it is a beautiful place.
We left early to get as long as we could there in the beautiful sun, explore, and just spend some time with each other. When we arrived we walked around taking everything in, some on the recognisable places from the series, and some of the amazing views that Port Isaac has to offer, before eventually stopping for some lunch and then continuing our exploring.
We were nearing the end of our trip when we noticed a lady selling ice-cream from a little stall near the water, and no journey on a sunny day is complete without ice-cream, right? So we each ordered ourselves a cone and stood looking out onto the water, it was bliss.
Now I think we had all been aware of the presence of many many seagulls, but maybe not aware enough. Christy’s Gran, Amy, was stood in front of me, I could see her looking out into the open water, enjoying her cone, it was a picture of pure serenity... for all of about 30 seconds. Now what happened next happened so quickly, and I really didn’t have a chance to give Amy any warning in advance. Out of nowhere, the boldest most brave seagull came from behind and landed on her head swiping the cone straight out of her hands.
Devastating, gutting, shocking, but also hilarious from where I was stood. I couldn’t believe it, Amy couldn’t believe it, every other onlooker couldn’t believe it. Maybe it was one of those moments where you had to be there to appreciate just how funny it really was.
Thinking of this story makes me think of the importance of looking up, of looking up to Jesus. See, in the case of the ice-cream thieving seagull, if Amy had been looking up, she would have been aware of the danger coming from above. She may have been able to scare the seagull away and save her cone.
Many times in life, we focus on our circumstances, the situation we find ourselves in, we focus on the bad news around us, the difficulties we face and how all of these things make us feel. Friends, we can have a very different outlook on life if instead of looking to these things, we look to Jesus. If instead of looking all around us, we look up.
I encourage you today, no matter what is going on in your life, peace and joy can be found in looking to Christ, and keeping looking at Him.