The Conchshell Chronicles - Our Newsletter

When we face the challenges of life, where do we go for answers? I have been exploring this question for four decades and recently I have camped out at a site where much is given in a very short time.

Would you join me for a few moments?

Many of us glean our wisdom from our culture, social media along with what ‘feels right’ for us. We live our lives this way until something extraordinary happens: We have an experience with God and suddenly everything changes. Now, God becomes our source for how we are to do life.

Jesus knew that many of us would be needing guidance in our walk with Him as well as in this world, so he gave his most famous teaching on a hillside on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. We call it the ‘Sermon on the Mount.’  Matthew records this teaching, and let’s imagine ourselves in the crowd with many Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, Herodians, tax collectors, fishermen, farmers, shepherds, and assorted Greeks and Romans.  What did they hear Jesus say. If we tune our ears to their culture and language, we discover that Jesus is giving us the basics on what Discipleship looks like according to Him.

Finally on June 28^th, Benjamin Franklin offered this suggestion:

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?

 We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.”

I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move-that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.

The atmosphere changed after Franklin’s speech with Washingtom noting “A spirit of accommodation was happily infused into the leading characters,” which opened the door to peacefully working through their differences. Members of the convention later used these words to describe the effect of that critical moment in our history: “miracle, finger of the Almighty, finger of God, Providence, or superintending Power,” to describe the feeling and momentum that pervaded in Independence Hall.

As a result, they were able to finish their work on September 17^th, providing us with an extraordinary, never-seen-before-in-human-history structure of government that has in some form been the model for all democratic societies since!

What was the key to the wisdom of our Constitution? It seems it was the moment that the members turned to the God of Creation to solicit His Wisdom in their decisions. Many knew these verses from Book of Proverbs:

 Next month we celebrate 250 years of America! On July 4, 1776, our founders declared:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the  pursuit of Happiness.”

This is a bold statement unprecedented in human history. Rights come from God, not a king, not from a government.

How did our Founders arrive at this conclusion?

Perhaps because these Bible believing scholars understood the ramifications of a statement found in Chapter 1 of John:

He (Jesus) came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. John 1:10-13

Our culture has been bombarded by a philosophy that is centered on Self, where mankind became the source and standard of morality, where truth is fluid for the situation, that each individual should decide what is best for themselves and pursue it regardless of familial or societal consequences, and that personal ‘happiness’ should be the goal of life.

Many portions of the Bible that tell us what God thinks about us, what He says we are, how He says we should live for Him and others around us, and how we should protect the family unit have been disregarded by many so called Christians as being out of date, not applicable to our modern times, and culturally irrelevant.

As a result, there is often confusion among us in regard to the question “How do we followers of Christ think about our life, who we are, what path leads to peace and joy, and where our road ends?”

This search had taken many to the mountaintops of experience, the depths of knowledge, and the latitudes of freedoms which often fall outside of the counsel given to us by the most published book in history that claims to be written by God’s Spirit through men, which has a solid historical basis and has been shown through our history to have valid    answers to the questions of life. These other paths lead to despair.

Where will we go for direction in these years of our lives? 

What our culture and inner-self tells us?

Or where God’s Word leads us?”

How do we measure our success in the mission to reach out to the international community there? Did we serve the best coffee on the island? Were our baked good the most delicious? Were our quiches, avocado-egg toast and other menu items the most nutritious as well as delicious?

I think if we took a survey, we could say a definite “YES!”

But here is the real measure of our success which was sent to me a few minutes ago by our team leader Jake:

“Last night I was having a conversation at the pub with Andres, a loyal customer who comes in everyday to get a cortado. He is always raving about our coffee, but yesterday he shared something much more meaningful. He started our  conversation by asking

 ‘Do the owners of Rio Coco have any idea how much of an impact they have on this island?

Seriously, people love you guys. I don’t know what we’re going to do now that you’re closed. Everyone over at Utila Dive Center loves Rio Coco because it’s the perfect spot to come study and hang out. It feels like its own little place away from Utila. And the thing that makes it so great is you guys.

Sure the coffee is the best and the views are great, but you guys are all so thoughtful and you ask questions and care about your customers and it really makes such a difference.

I really don’t know what we’re going to do without you.’ ”

It’s a unique time in history to be alive! All the events and circumstances of this past decade have created in many a sense of searching for the meaning of life. Wealth, prestige, and societal status have proven to be NOT the answer to life’s purpose. Many who have spent thousands on education and dedicated years toward professional goals are discovering a “Bridge Out Ahead- Do Not Proceed” sign on their road. Others who grew up in a culture that allowed mindless self-pleasure have discovered that they can never get their fill of such an egocentric lifestyle- there must be the ultimate high somewhere else.

Now we are dealing with an invasion of sargasso, a seaweed that blooms and creates huge patches in the ocean that houses crabs, sea horses, and other marine life. It has covered our shoreline here, as well as our dock and the dive schools around us. It is itchy, as I discovered earlier this week when I dove through it and swam underwater to get past it into open water.

Needless to say, our expectations of beautiful water and warm temperatures have not yet been met, but at least it is getting warmer each day.

This is a common life experience, not having our expectations met.

What I am experiencing with the Sargasso is minor compared to what many in the world are currently experiencing- especially our brothers and sisters in Iran and Nigeria, where many have been killed in the past months. Yet the lesson is there for me.

The Rolling Stones had a song a few years ago titled “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Yes, Mick Jagger sang the truth.

2026 has just begun.

How it will be depends much on our choices we will make.

What job should I take? Who should I marry.

Where should I live? Where do I invest my savings?

How do I reply to this insult just spoken to me.

What do I say when my spouse becomes angry?

How do I handle rowdy neighbors?

What is the best way to end this conversation?

These choices will frame your year 2026. We need Wisdom!

“Wisdom is competence with regard to the realities of life.”

                             Gerhard von Rad   ‘The Wisdom of Israel’

Wisdom is skill in understanding how life really works.

Wisdom assumes knowledge. 

Wisdom is knowing what to do with knowledge.

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is not putting a tomato into a fruit salad.

“Wisdom is knowing what the right thing is to do in the 80% of life situations which the moral rules don’t directly apply.”   Tim Keller