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Sea Edge
A lifelong love of the sea as inspired this collection of "ocean parables" Spiritual lessons and truths
- GenresChristian
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1984
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
W. Phillip Keller
85 books127 followersWeldon Phillip Keller (1920-1997) wrote more than thirty-five books on Christian subjects, including his most popular book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 The son of missionary parents in Kenya, Keller grow up in Africa before becoming a world citizen as a photographer, agronomist, and author. His books have over two million copies in print.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 26, 2016
W. Phillip Keller (author of A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23) draws out Biblical applications from the Sea Edge in this book. After reading this short book, I realize that I don't look around enough at God's Hand in nature all around me.
The analogies, the pictures, the applications to God's children abound at the Sea Edge and Keller masterfully brings out illustrations that make one stop and really ponder. Chapters such as "High Tide," "Healing Waters," "Sea Walls & Sand Castles," "Sea Wind," Bluffs & Cliffs," "Winter Weather," and "Shells Along the Shore" all bring some sort of truth to the heart of the reader.
My fear is that too many today will bypass a rich book such as this because it is not critically acclaimed or on the New York Times Bestseller list. Of all the books I read this year, this makes my top five.
Read it for your good, but as you read it, soak up its truth and meditate on the rich morsels of an author who truly walked with God!
Some favorite excerpts:
"For just as the ocean is ever at work breaking itself over my bit of beach, so my Father's unfathomable love is ever in action spilling out upon my sin-stained soul. Had He chosen, as well He might, to confine His compassion to Himself,, I would have never have known the cleansing, caring impact of His life on mine.
Like the breakers crashing every few seconds upon the shore, so His love comes sweeping over my soul from out of the eternal depths of His own infinite being. Over and over His life is broken on my behalf.
Christians, it seems to me, speak too glibly, too lightly, too flippantly of the cleansing blood of Christ. They treat it almost as a talisman that can be called upon in a moment of extremity.
It is more, much more than that! It is instead the eternal, everlasting, endless life and love of God Himself being poured out in unrelenting power upon us poor mortals. His majestic body broken on our behalf, spilled out in ten thousand times ten thousand actions of self-giving, self-sacrifice is for our cleansing-for our salvation." p.33
"I have been ridiculed, both privately and in public, by those detractors who insist that the measurement of a man's usefulness is how busy he is. It is the unwritten rule of our contemporary society, both within the church and outside it, that our effectiveness is directly proportional to how much we are on the go - for God, or man." p.81
"In the realm of man's spirit the devastation wrought by our much vaunted modern way of life is beyond measure. People are so driven and mesmerized by materialism they become slaves to insatiable desires. A thousand false voices call to them to find fulfillment in the transient, tempting pursuits of time. They are assailed by perverted propaganda which would have them believe leisure, pleasure, and treasure of an affluent society will satisfy their spirits. But they do not!
Man was made for a greater good than all of these. He was made for God. And he will never find rest of soul, serenity of spirit, until he finds that repose in stillness and quietness in company with Christ." p.80
The analogies, the pictures, the applications to God's children abound at the Sea Edge and Keller masterfully brings out illustrations that make one stop and really ponder. Chapters such as "High Tide," "Healing Waters," "Sea Walls & Sand Castles," "Sea Wind," Bluffs & Cliffs," "Winter Weather," and "Shells Along the Shore" all bring some sort of truth to the heart of the reader.
My fear is that too many today will bypass a rich book such as this because it is not critically acclaimed or on the New York Times Bestseller list. Of all the books I read this year, this makes my top five.
Read it for your good, but as you read it, soak up its truth and meditate on the rich morsels of an author who truly walked with God!
Some favorite excerpts:
"For just as the ocean is ever at work breaking itself over my bit of beach, so my Father's unfathomable love is ever in action spilling out upon my sin-stained soul. Had He chosen, as well He might, to confine His compassion to Himself,, I would have never have known the cleansing, caring impact of His life on mine.
Like the breakers crashing every few seconds upon the shore, so His love comes sweeping over my soul from out of the eternal depths of His own infinite being. Over and over His life is broken on my behalf.
Christians, it seems to me, speak too glibly, too lightly, too flippantly of the cleansing blood of Christ. They treat it almost as a talisman that can be called upon in a moment of extremity.
It is more, much more than that! It is instead the eternal, everlasting, endless life and love of God Himself being poured out in unrelenting power upon us poor mortals. His majestic body broken on our behalf, spilled out in ten thousand times ten thousand actions of self-giving, self-sacrifice is for our cleansing-for our salvation." p.33
"I have been ridiculed, both privately and in public, by those detractors who insist that the measurement of a man's usefulness is how busy he is. It is the unwritten rule of our contemporary society, both within the church and outside it, that our effectiveness is directly proportional to how much we are on the go - for God, or man." p.81
"In the realm of man's spirit the devastation wrought by our much vaunted modern way of life is beyond measure. People are so driven and mesmerized by materialism they become slaves to insatiable desires. A thousand false voices call to them to find fulfillment in the transient, tempting pursuits of time. They are assailed by perverted propaganda which would have them believe leisure, pleasure, and treasure of an affluent society will satisfy their spirits. But they do not!
Man was made for a greater good than all of these. He was made for God. And he will never find rest of soul, serenity of spirit, until he finds that repose in stillness and quietness in company with Christ." p.80
June 29, 2020
Review
The other day I was at a famous Florida beach. Clouds dotted the blue sky overhead, empty cruise ships were anchored at the horizon’s edge, people of all races and ages were sitting on the beach under their umbrellas or frolicking in the surf. It was a day to enjoy the God of creation and our multicultural setting. From my past my uncle’s beach was private so we didn’t have other people around, but the beauty of the beach setting always has refreshed my soul. That is why I chose to review PhIllip Keller’s book Sea Edge. As he says in the beginning, this book is dedicated “To those who love the sea edge and sense God’s presence there.” Keller uses the characteristics of the sea edge near his home – the birds, the updrafts, the tides, the wind, the shells, the breakers, the healing waters, the broken rocks and smooth stones, etc. as analogies of God’s work in believers’ lives. These are aspects of the sea edge us ocean lovers can picture and appreciate. The combination of his profound insights, his compelling word pictures, and his evident intimacy with God provide rich food for meditation. A book of devotion and pleasure to refresh the soul. 4 stars M.L. Codman-Wilson, Ph.D., 6 29 20
Excerpts:
“There are occasions when the “high tide” of God’s powerful presence need to inundate my soiled and shabby soul. There are days when more than anything else I must have that sublime sense of His Spirit sweeping into every secret cove and inlet of my life…It is He who in the high tide of His relentless patience and perseverance presses in on my person…It is His eternal, sure incoming, as inexorable as the rising tide that gives hope for covering all the corruption and defilement of my days” (P. 27).
“Like the sharp wind off the sea…so it is with the Spirit of God. He comes constantly to renew and refresh. He comes to encourage and invigorate. He comes to impart to us the resources of the Resurrected One…The wind and ocean air which I inhaled yesterday will not do for today. The breezes which refreshed me last week will not so refresh me this morning…I must be refreshed, rejuvenated, requickened, yes, refilled each day. There is no other way. The supply and source is inexhaustible. The movement and flow is eternal. The dynamic energy never diminishes. All that is required is that I expose and open myself before Him to be totally available to His personal impact upon m today. To so live – sensitive to His presence, aware of His wishes, obedient and open to His will – is to be filled and stimulated by His Spirit…now and on into eternity” (pp.92-93).
“The soaring of the sea birds has always impressed me. Not only is the essential beauty of their bodies and wings stretched out against the blue sky impressive, but so also is the remarkable ease with which they sail upward in silence and grace... They are a glorious expression of airborne artistry... Yet, the invisible, incredible secret to it all is the rising thermals lifting, suspending, moving them in the air. One thing I have always noticed is that none of the birds ever attempt to soar when there is a down pour of rain, cold downdrafts of air in inversion, or gusty gales battering the bluffs. At such times, with complete acquiescence to the change in climate, they simply settle quietly on the beach…Knowing the sun will shine again, they simply rest quietly…Our preachers, teachers and effervescent evangelists would lead us to believe that we can always live high in the sky, soaring against the sun. Not so. This is not God’s design. Nor does he arrange our affairs that way. We are bound to have our days of rain, our times of tears, our hours of disappointment. There are bound to be blustery storms of testing, counter air-currents of frustration and nights of darkness. But through them all, in them all, our Father is always there…In these difficult, grievous, heavy times he expects that we shall simply settle down quietly upon the shore of His great grace and wait patiently for him. He does not call us to beat our way with flashing wings and spent bodies against the storms of life. He does not ask us to fight the adverse winds in fury. He simply tells us that those who wait upon the Lord…who wait for Him to alter the environment, will mount up with wings refreshed. They shall fly and not grow weary, borne aloft on the fresh updrafts of His faithfulness” (pp.76-78).
The other day I was at a famous Florida beach. Clouds dotted the blue sky overhead, empty cruise ships were anchored at the horizon’s edge, people of all races and ages were sitting on the beach under their umbrellas or frolicking in the surf. It was a day to enjoy the God of creation and our multicultural setting. From my past my uncle’s beach was private so we didn’t have other people around, but the beauty of the beach setting always has refreshed my soul. That is why I chose to review PhIllip Keller’s book Sea Edge. As he says in the beginning, this book is dedicated “To those who love the sea edge and sense God’s presence there.” Keller uses the characteristics of the sea edge near his home – the birds, the updrafts, the tides, the wind, the shells, the breakers, the healing waters, the broken rocks and smooth stones, etc. as analogies of God’s work in believers’ lives. These are aspects of the sea edge us ocean lovers can picture and appreciate. The combination of his profound insights, his compelling word pictures, and his evident intimacy with God provide rich food for meditation. A book of devotion and pleasure to refresh the soul. 4 stars M.L. Codman-Wilson, Ph.D., 6 29 20
Excerpts:
“There are occasions when the “high tide” of God’s powerful presence need to inundate my soiled and shabby soul. There are days when more than anything else I must have that sublime sense of His Spirit sweeping into every secret cove and inlet of my life…It is He who in the high tide of His relentless patience and perseverance presses in on my person…It is His eternal, sure incoming, as inexorable as the rising tide that gives hope for covering all the corruption and defilement of my days” (P. 27).
“Like the sharp wind off the sea…so it is with the Spirit of God. He comes constantly to renew and refresh. He comes to encourage and invigorate. He comes to impart to us the resources of the Resurrected One…The wind and ocean air which I inhaled yesterday will not do for today. The breezes which refreshed me last week will not so refresh me this morning…I must be refreshed, rejuvenated, requickened, yes, refilled each day. There is no other way. The supply and source is inexhaustible. The movement and flow is eternal. The dynamic energy never diminishes. All that is required is that I expose and open myself before Him to be totally available to His personal impact upon m today. To so live – sensitive to His presence, aware of His wishes, obedient and open to His will – is to be filled and stimulated by His Spirit…now and on into eternity” (pp.92-93).
“The soaring of the sea birds has always impressed me. Not only is the essential beauty of their bodies and wings stretched out against the blue sky impressive, but so also is the remarkable ease with which they sail upward in silence and grace... They are a glorious expression of airborne artistry... Yet, the invisible, incredible secret to it all is the rising thermals lifting, suspending, moving them in the air. One thing I have always noticed is that none of the birds ever attempt to soar when there is a down pour of rain, cold downdrafts of air in inversion, or gusty gales battering the bluffs. At such times, with complete acquiescence to the change in climate, they simply settle quietly on the beach…Knowing the sun will shine again, they simply rest quietly…Our preachers, teachers and effervescent evangelists would lead us to believe that we can always live high in the sky, soaring against the sun. Not so. This is not God’s design. Nor does he arrange our affairs that way. We are bound to have our days of rain, our times of tears, our hours of disappointment. There are bound to be blustery storms of testing, counter air-currents of frustration and nights of darkness. But through them all, in them all, our Father is always there…In these difficult, grievous, heavy times he expects that we shall simply settle down quietly upon the shore of His great grace and wait patiently for him. He does not call us to beat our way with flashing wings and spent bodies against the storms of life. He does not ask us to fight the adverse winds in fury. He simply tells us that those who wait upon the Lord…who wait for Him to alter the environment, will mount up with wings refreshed. They shall fly and not grow weary, borne aloft on the fresh updrafts of His faithfulness” (pp.76-78).
Read
August 7, 2023I chose this devotional to read on our beach vacation. This book is lovely as it points out nautical things and what they do. Then, he turns it to a spiritual lesson on how that thing in creation is like us or some other lesson to be learned about God. Beautifully written book. I thoroughly enjoy this author and look forward to the next book, and he has written about 50!
April 8, 2020
A great devotional. A wonderful reminder that God is always with us.
July 22, 2022
Not only does Mr. Keller put forth some wonderful observations about God and how He works with us, his writing is lovely! I could see, hear, and smell what he described.
August 10, 2023
I read this book (nearly all of it, anyway) while at the beach myself. I must recommend the same for you. Keller uses the many facets of beach life (high tide, weather shifts, polished rocks, breakers, sea wind, etc.) as parallels for elements of the Christian’s life. As the tide washes the beach clean, so the power of God washes us clean, removing filth and carrying it away. As nearness to the sea’s saline content and oxygenated air and moisture can heal and restore a body, so nearness to the powerful purifying Spirit of God can restore us to spiritual health. As the cliffs and bluffs are shaped by the rough sea over many years, so our lives must remain open to the pounding of the powerful “surf” of God’s effect on our lives. It might sound hokey, but it’s truly a wealth of poetic images. If you can’t read it with your feet in the sand, try it at home anyway.
April 22, 2014
Keller has written a fair number of well-known books that connect Christian spirituality to the physical world of nature. He's a down-to-earth fellow who loves to draw spiritual insights from nature and share about it. This book represents his gleanings from his many walks on the beach and is a nice relaxing read with short chapters.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews