Beaches (Revised for clarification of scriptural reference)

The small group stood on the wooden stairs looking at the dry kahki sand and the blue-green of the ocean. Faith, ever eager to be a teenager and escape the adult-ness of her peers, dashed out with her towel to find a spot to tan. Sure she was with child, but why should that stop her from trying to impress boys?

Gilly chuckled. It was an odd smiling grunt. He strode off towards the shore, looking forward to feeling the water lap at his calloused feet. Reaching the soft ebb of the tide, he reached into his pocket for a small bottle of sunscreen and applied it to his bald head. Satisfied that his scalp was secure from the harshness of the sun, he stood, arms crossed, and gazed at the endless blue before him.

Sanchez spoke to his wife in Spanish for a moment, then found a spot large enough to accomodate his wife's beach chair, the umbrella, and all the sand toys he had brought for his children. The umbrella slung cross-wise from left shoulder to right hip, and the chair hung straight down from the other shoulder. Both hands were full of buckets, shovels, and other things. The children ran out to the nearest large space they could find, shouting in their newly practiced English. Sanchez smiled and walked off after them, telling them to stop and help him get the things arranged.

As for Wei, well, he stretched and took a deep breath, then decided that he too would stand at the water's edge.

"Impressive, ain't it?" asked Gilly when he noticed Wei arrive.

Wei nodded. "Funny how miracles work, ain't it?" he asked.

Gilly raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Wei looked at Gilly as though finally noticing him. "Oh, sorry. Just that the ocean and the waves reminds me of something in Scripture."

Gilly nodded and looked out at the ocean again. "What about it?"

"Well," Wei said with his signature sigh, "there's a story about a guy who goes to rescue his people from enslavement at the hands of a foreign nation. He offers them a home you see. A nation of their own where they can be free and prosperous."

Gilly grunted.

"On their way to the land they were promised, the people come across a large army in their way. The people arm up as best they can, then march out to face the foe. Then the leader, the one who faced the ruler and rescued them, prayed to God and raised his arms," Wei did as he imagined the leader did, "and the people did well and absolutely overwhelmed the enemy."

Gilly raised his eyebrows. "Huh. that must have been something."

Wei held up his arms a little higher and stood on the tips of his toes. "I reckon. So, the people start to do battle with the enemy, watched by the leader. But as they get more and more into the fight, the leader's arms begin to weaken. He can't hold them up you see. And what happens? When his hands get lower, the opposing army gets the upper hand and threatens to crush everyone."

The bald man sniffed. "Well, that's a kick in the head."

"Really, you know?" Wei said, lowering his arms a little. "Then what happens? The leader's friend and his sister get under him and push his arms up so that the army continues to win. And in this way they conquer the land and defeat the opposing forces."

"I'd call that a miracle. Is that all there is to the story?"

"Basically," was Wei's reply, "but I can't help but wonder: was God's ability to make his people strong warriors so largely dependent on that one man's ability to keep his arms in the air? We all like to say that God is all-powerful, and I generally tend to think that's the truth. But why would God relent the miracle when he saw that the human involved was growing weak? Why didn't God just continue to bolster the fighters even as the guy's arms dropped?"

Gilly merely shrugged. "You got me," he said.

"Exactly. But somehow God must have cared enough about this guy's involvement in the work that he decided to do what He did. No one nowadays is ballsy enough to say that it was the leader who separated the water. Most would chalk that one up to God."

Gilly nodded.

"But then, if it were really all God, and not the person, then why have the person anyhow? Why not just override humanity and do whatever? Why involve human beings at all? And why did God allow the miracle to endure for as long as the guy could just hold up his arms?"

Gilly shook his head. "I don't know. Tell me if you figure it out." He turned to Wei and smiled, then trundled off down the shore.

Wei stood a moment and lifted his arms up high again. He stood there for a moment, watching the waves. Then he put his arms down. Standing in silence for a moment or two, he lifted his arms again, and repeated the process until he finally stood stock still, left entirely to himself with his own thoughts.