Integrity on the Coast

Having a little down time while waiting for last night's guests to leave the Cottage. Didn't feel like getting out of the car at the dock, but decided to walk onto the boat ramp anyway, and ask for permission to take some pictures while a man launched his boat. Instead, I turned around and looked back up to the parking lot (probably considering bailing out and not asking the stranger if I could photograph his launch) and I saw a familiar face riding through the parking lot on his bike.

Walking back up the boardwalk, I said hello and asked if I could take his picture on his bike. It is my good pleasure to present to you, Paul. A man of integrity. This is a man who doesn't just say the right things but, with all his heart, he endeavors to do what he says.

I have seen this man lay down his life to serve others. He has been transparent and did not pretend that it was easy, not falsely humble, he shares the struggles and the joys, he helps me to remember what it means to "spend" life, to invest it, not just to serve self and indulge in ones own pleasures. This man demonstrates a life that lives out the scriptures in the Bible, book of James Chapter 1, verse 21-27. It goes like this and so does his life:

"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

It is refreshing to say that this man demonstrates this in his life. He's not boring, either. He's intelligent and witty and a deep thinker. It was fun to see him at the dock and receive permission to share a little about the integrity that can still be found on the Oregon Coast.

And, totally unrelated, this photo is hung in the kitchen of Annie's Cottage, and I like it a lot. Just thought I'd say that.