My mom is here.  My sister and her kiddos are too.   Yesterday we took a trip to the beach at Galveston.    Both the gulf water and the beach were teeming with life; each doing their thing.  There were small children with shovel and pail in hand and teens with footballs practicing the perfect spiral.  Grandmas watched while adults stole time to enjoy a good book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hallie, my animal lover, rushed to the water to show off her beach skill.  She has a knack for catching hermit crabs.  I see a new reality show in her future.  It could be called Redneck toe-crabbing.  Yesterday she and her protégés easily caught more than fourteen crabs in about twenty minutes.

Hallie scootches her toes through the sand along water’s bottom.  When she feels wiggling beneath her toes, she reaches down to the muddy bottom and grabs the crab's shell. Maybe this is typical hermit crab hunting, I find it creepy.

The crabs who haven’t lost their lives to Hallie and her partners have a near-death experience to share with their friends.

It is in honor of these crabs that I write this blog.

There is a behavior that has been observed in the life of the hermit crab which deserves our attention.

I'm talking about molting .  A hermit crab’s exoskeleton doesn’t have a life-time guarantee.  There comes a time when the hermit crab has grown and must shed his old skin.

A crab must molt to continue to grow.

A crab must molt for life to continue.

Interestingly the crab buries itself as it sheds its skin.  As the crab sheds its skin, evidence of the old skin disappears (the crab eats its old exoskeleton).  Its old self is gone.

The crab, in his much needed fresh “suit” is not immediately strong. The new creation needs time to come into its brand-new self.

God continually reveals himself in nature. I smile that molting closely resembles the transformation that we go through as we accept Christ.  For life to continue beyond this earthly vessel, our old life must be cast off and buried. “ As we are buried in Christ’s likeness, we rise to walk in newness of life.” We are not instantly strong Christians.  A disciple is made in time which brings me to my ultimate point.

This year at VBS we had fifteen salvation decisions.  New life has sprung. This beautiful picture will be displayed Sundays to come through baptism.  We have reason to pray; these babies in Christ need nurturing.  But above all, we have reason to rejoice.