Santorini: the island that got away.

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Memories.

 

My last post was of a picture that was taken on the Greek Island of Mykonos. Last week, boredom hit me as I was on Facebook and I decided to creep through some old photos.

 

Europe. Oh man.

 

I really do miss it. (I lived there for a year and have been back twice since then).

 

I miss London mostly. (Which I will have to blog about that whole chapter another time).

 

In 2008, my self and six friends went on a little adventure to Europe. Oh the memories.

 

I can’t even count them on one hand.

 

Staying at the sketchiest hostel… transitioning from disgusting hostel to Colour Conference at Royal Albert Hall in Kensington.

 

Sleeping in airports… and in one of them, two of the girls stayed up all night and drew pictures of us.

 

Eating curry in Brick Lane. Mmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Eating British chocolate everyday (that really hasn’t changed as I’m eating a galaxy bar as I write this)

 

Frolicking in a park in Dublin, reading Oscar Wilde quotes on monuments.

 

Topshop Oxford Street. (Nuff said)

 

Laying eyes on the original Olympic rings in Athens.

 

Camden Town.

 

Eating fries from a fry-fork in an Athens MacDonalds.

 

Walking down the same streets the Apostle Paul did in Ephesus.  (INSANE…and there were a lot of cats there too?.. I know, weird)

 

 

I am a planner. I love planned things. I do love random, crazy, last minute adventures but I guess these are usually planned. So obviously we planned this Europe trip. I was amongst like 4 other type A planners.

 

But the thing about travelling is things always don’t go the way you plan them.

You don’t think to add in other factors like your boat captain crashing into Crete (oh yes he did.)

 

In this trip we flew into London, did the London thing, jetted off to Greece, cruised the Greek islands, then flew to Dublin for the weekend and flew back to London before we left for home (we actually went to Amsterdam at the end of the trip…not by choice but I’ll get to that later.)

 

It’s story time.

 

The cruise was fun, a little ridiculous. Before our trip people would say, “Oh a Greek island cruise? Party time.” Ha. 90% of the passengers were above the age of 50. But we had a grand ol time.

 

So, on this Greek Island cruise we were SO excited for this island. When people go to Greece all they talk about is this island. Movies always feature this island. Basically, I REALLY WANTED TO GO TO THIS ISLAND.

 

Santorini- the island that got away.

 

Yes, I had been hoping and dreaming of Santorini. I really, really, wanted to ride a donkey on Santorini. I really, really wanted to see the little houses on Santorini. I really, really, wanted to see the sunset on Santorini.

 

Sadly, none of this happened.

 

It was just another day at sea. We had been docked in Crete (where our tour guide told us to use this morning as a sleep in, as there is nothing to do in Crete). We awoke beyond excited for our afternoon and evening in Santorini. It was like the night before Christmas. Random thoughts were spoken out loud,

“I’m too scared to go on the donkey!”

“Ah! I can’t wait to go on the donkey!”

“We’re going to die on the freaking donkey!”

 

As you can see, we were really excited about the donkey.

 

And then it happened.

 

The announcement.

 

My memory is a bit foggy of this unfortunate day and even some of the other girls refuse to talk about it to this day.

 

“Our captain had an accident leaving Crete and we are not able to go to Santorini.”

 

First of all.. WHAT! Our captain crashed the cruise ship?

And second of all, NO SANTORINI!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Our hearts were crushed. Absolutely crushed. Even though we were having an amazing trip, no amounts of British chocolate could make up for the fact that we were not going to Santorini.

 

We turned our teensy tv to the channel that was hooked up to a camera on the outside of the ship. We put on our life jackets (obviously we were sinking). We viewed that teensy tv for hours upon hours. (Actually it was probably about 20 minutes). We talked about walking around the ship with our life jackets on but then we realized that may be a bit ridiculous. We were faced with a decision. Do we sit and mope or do we get out of our teensy inside facing (we were on a budget) room? We chose the latter. We went on, ate some food, laughed about the experience and enjoyed our last afternoon at sea. (FYI: tanning on the top of a Greek Island Cruise Ship seems like a good idea…remember to factor in the wind…it was literally freezing..don’t be deceived by our photos)

 

Sometimes in life, things may not always turn out the way you plan.

 

Actually a lot of times things don’t turn out the way you plan.

 

When I was younger I wanted to be a lawyer…or a memaid.  If I thought of myself at twenty-four, I would be married and have at least one child. HA. That would be insane. I have come to accept that most times, things don’t happen the way I intend.

 

But I am ok with that. My Father holds eternity in His hands. He knows me inside and out and knows what I need and what I don’t need. It’s a lot easier when you don’t get stuck on yourself for things not going the way you plan and instead enjoy life, laugh and trust that He has the greatest plan for you.

 

Proverbs 16:9 NLT

 

We can make our plans,
      but the Lord determines our steps.

 

Don’t sit around in your lifejacket contemplating why things didn’t go the way you planned. Trust in Him. I once heard a sermon analogy from Judah Smith. He explained that life was like a parade…a big long parade. We are on the sidelines watching it go by and sometimes a horse poops in front of you and it’s gross and smelly. We get sad and mad and freak out and want to be somewhere else. But God is in that news helicopter above the parade.

He can see the whole parade.

 

The beginning and the end.

 

He sees the pooper scooper people a block away from you (who will get rid of that gross horse poop). He sees that two blocks away are the people who hand out candy. He sees the entire parade and you are exactly where you need to be.

 

Stay gold my friends,

s.s.♥.

 

 

ps. Oh that time where our plane broke and we were forced to stay in Amsterdam with only the clothes on our back and our carry on luggage full of breakable items we didn’t want to put in our checked baggage…yeah I’ll save that for another time ;)

WAKE UP

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Sometimes it takes a bit of persistence to get my attention.

 

I feel as if life is a whirlwind. I honestly can’t believe it’s the middle of June. Honestly, where did the time go?  As I even began to write this, a week has passed by.

 

As life flies by I feel that sometimes I don’t even have the time to…..

 

Write.

 

Honestly I just opened this document up and today’s date is September 20th.

 

Two months have flown by…and I don’t even know where I was. Well yes, actually I do because the Lord gave me the same Word today. And so did Arcade Fire…? And what is that ‘Word’? Well it’s actually two words to be precise. WAKE UP.

 

WAKE UP. There you go.

 

Let me continue from the beginning. Sometimes it takes a bit of persistence to get my attention. I’ve lived 24 years (oh my gosh, I’m so old) and I’ve seen a lot (probably very little compared to a lot of people).  At many times life is a big ol whirlwind and I look back and say, ‘I can’t believe it’s ________. Time has flown!’ But I know, I know, I am not alone in this. So as I was saying when your mind is on many, many things you sometimes don’t hear certain things. Sometimes the Lord is very clear and other times I miss out because of my selfish ways (I know I’m being very vague here).

 

So way back in May (well it probably was well before that and I just didn’t listen) God started talking to me about two things. One was how life is a story (another blog another time) and the second was to WAKE UP.  I was at LifeWomen Conference (which is AH-MAZING and all women should go to) and Lisa Bevere, Marilyn Skinner & Helen Burns had one underlying theme that was very present in their messages. That theme was calling us to WAKE UP.

 

Romans 13v11-14 MESSAGE “But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!”

 

Verse 11 in the NLT uses those two words which I needed to hear, “WAKE UP…” That passage cut into me like a knife. I got pwn’d.

 

See I believe that a lot of us ‘get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations’. We get so busy. Life is insane. I can’t remember the last day where I didn’t have an appointment, meeting, errand, etc. But then I realized that I had dozed off, that I wasn’t intentionally asking God what HE wanted me to do, where HE wanted me to go. I was a sleep-walker going through the motions. I needed to WAKE UP.

 

And then Helen Burns shared a prophetic word that a lady in her church received before the conference, that there was a generation of sleeping beauties out there who needed to wake up.  I know this may not mean anything to you but sleeping beauty is my Disney Princess, I am her!! And my heart is for young women to discover God and the amazing life he has set before them (another blog for another time). It was there I received an “A-HA” moment. I knew I needed to be awake for these other sleeping beauties.

 

I spoke at a teen girls camp this summer (another blog for another time…shoot I’m setting myself to write numerous blogs…) and one of the messages was on how God can’t use a generation of sleeping beauties, He needs a generation of Princess Auroras (Princess Aurora is sleeping Beauty’s actual name for those of you who drink Disney-haterade).

 

So fast-forward a couple months to today. I was reading John 4 (which I LOVE…one of my favourite stories in the Bible)…and Jesus said to his disciples, “35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”

 

This is really a whole other blog entry but I really want to say something here (bless you, if you haven’t fallen asleep yet!!!).

 

Many times we say, I’ll wait and do that another time, I’ll pray for that person later, I’ll talk to them later, I’ll read my Bible later, I’ll respond to God later. But the time is NOW my friends, the time is NOW. Jesus said it himself, “Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.”

 

We are useless to others if we are asleep, we are useless to the world if we are asleep and we are useless to God if we are asleep.

 

WAKE UP…the world is waiting for you.

 

love that lasts.

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I’m in Parksville. It’s grand. A beauty. There’s something about waking up, walking to the window and seeing miles upon miles of sand and sea stretched before you. It’s breathtaking. 

As I was lying on my towel this morning trying to add some colour to my pasty-ness something much more beautiful than the gorgeous landscape caught my attention. Across the empty beach I could hear two old brits laughing away on their walk.

These two old brits are my great aunt & uncle from England. We’re all staying here for a few days on their Canadian visit. There is something about these two that just make my heart sparkle. 

So as soon as I heard the laughter, my sister and I went towards them on the beach. They were standing in a tidal pool just laughing away. My Uncle John was holding their shoes. Something about that simple act grabbed my heart. 

We took photos, made jokes, and talked about life. Soon enough they walked back towards the condo and my sister and I returned to our towels to get more sun. 

See the thing that just makes this heart sparkle, is not their kindness, it’s not their humor, it’s their love.

I have never seen anyone more in love than these two.

They’re in their eighties and they are the most affectionate couple I have ever seen. He calls her “my girl” and she calls him “my boy”. The night before we were eating dinner and as he grabbed her plate, she reached out and grabbed his hand and just held it. In the past 24 hours we’ve been with them, he’s probably called her gorgeous more than 10x. 

The way they look at each other you just know their love is a love that lasts. More beautiful than any landscape that is worthy to be painted is a love that lasts. 

I can’t wait for initial fireworks, for fun, for romance but above all I desire this love that grows with wrinkles, that enlarges with loss of sight, that is stronger as you are weaker…a love that lasts.

stay gold,

s.s.heart.