The Water Broke

Back to the beach!

Florida was our first stop on the "Southeastern Tour".  Our plan was to drive all day Wednesday to Gulf Breeze Florida and wake up early Thursday to get in some beach time before we make our way to Tallahassee. 

Early Thursday morning we hustled out of the hotel to the beach at sunrise. The night before it had rained and the remnants of those storms were still trickling through as we picked our spot on the beach. It was a perfect morning to spend a few hours soaking in all of God's beautiful creation.

As I stepped into the ocean, a feeling or emotion washed over me.  As I processed this moment the best way I could explain this emotion / feeling is, "it was good to be back in the waters and it felt like home".  

That's the closest I could get to expressing that short moment as I stepped back into the water.

It was a refreshing experience. It brought back all of the memories of the first campaign.

To clarify, Florida does not feel like home nor does the beach but that moment I got into the water I experienced this emotion. 

I moved out to about knee deep watching the waves come in and admiring the flashes of lightning off in the distance as sprinkles of rain fell all around us.

Then in my mind a "strong memory" started playing out. It was each of the waters we had gone to last year.  It was almost like a dream or trance but I could still hear and feel all that was going on around me.  I settled into a shalom of reassurance as the last memory played through. A big wave crashed on me and I was fully back on the beach with Kristi and the kiddos. 

We played in the water, looked for shells, built a sand castle and sank our feet into the sifting sand.

Kristi and Brea took a stroll down the beach towards the pier, on their way back a dolphin popped up out in front of them. While I watched Brayden and Braylea look for shells a dolphin popped up about 25 years right in front of us.  This felt like a little nod to our dolphin friend at Rehoboth Beach. 

2½ hours flew by pretty quickly and it was time for us to pack up and make our 3 / 4 hour drive. It was technically 3 hours away but we lost an hour when we crossed over timezones. We jumped back and forth over the timezone line a few more times during the tour.  This played into us not knowing what day it was or the time later on the tour. 

Tallahassee here we come.

The Florida Capitol was a neat "southern" looking house with red and white awnings. We drive around a few times looking for the mythical parking spot. Two blocks away we tuck in under a huge tree. With dark clouds and rumblings in the air we walk with a little more purpose towards the Capitol. 

We make it up the hill and start on our prayer walk around the capitol building.  A few security guards do a double take as they see me coming down the sidewalk.  I just act like a dude with a six foot staff with a shofar wrapped around it is totally normal and they just nod at me as I pass by.

We round the back corner and see the Liberty Bell replica down a few steps from the building.  I pass it by and hear a few street people and a couple workers talking rather loud about things kiddos shouldn't hear. I thought, well this is about to get awkward when I go right down in the middle of their powwow to decree at the bell. 

I finish the prayer circle and start back to the bell, as I get about half way there it starts sprinkling.  The closer I get to the bell the bigger the drops become. As I walked down the stairs the powwow broke up and they made their way to a covered area near the capitol building.  

I stand next to the bell, put the Tahlit on, pull the decree out and notice I have a small audience watching near the buildings. 

Before we had left for the "Southeastern Tour" I felt like I needed to print the decree out and laminate it. I felt like I would be rained on at some point in the Tour. 

Kristi gets in place, gives me the thumbs up and I let rip.

The audience dispersed about halfway through the decree. 

I finished up, dried the decree off and a clap of thunder let us know what was about to happen.  I grabbed my phone from Kristi and a drenching downpour broke loose on us.  We ran for cover under a huge tree out front of the capitol and realized we needed to take our family picture in front of the building.  I get the phone ready and we run out front, take some interesting hurried pictures as we get totally soaked. 

Now we run 2 blocks back to the car completely water logged. 

We look at each other wondering what just happened!?  

We sit soaked for a moment to process what just happened. 

We find our beach towels, dry off a bit and we head for Troy, Alabama.

As I decompressed from the trip, I asked the Father to connect dots and show me what I needed to see. He connected a word He spoke to me before we left for the tour. He said "America will be re-birthed in July, it will be hard. I need to keep my prayer schedule and we will come out of it without a scratch."

As I looked back at this downpour and how I felt like we would be rained on, I feel like the rain breaking on us was the "water breaking" of the re-birth and it so happens that July has the holiday of the birth of America. 

Shalom Shalom ❤️‍🔥