My wife and I are on our 10 year anniversary trip.
It’s a 5 day trip I surprised her with (almost 3 years late – That really added to the surprise element. What can I say? It took me that long to earn the frequent flier miles). And it’s amazing how many times I see something that points out the sinful, selfish nature of mankind. Sometimes it’s so pathetic it’s comical. Today was one such time.Â
This is one of those all inclusive spots that we are staying at and you’d think that alone would alleviate a lot of the demanding attitudes and self serving agendas people sometimes have. I mean, you’re gonna get fed, just show up and eat as much as you like. And you’ll get to do the water sports, just sign up and wait your turn. And you’ll get a chaise lounge by the water just—Â
Oops, not so fast. When it comes to the chaise lounge chairs, apparently, ANYTHING goes. Â
Today I watched yet again the frightening posturing that goes on in an secretive, ongoing civil war between the haves and the have-nots. Not the valid struggle between the obscenely rich and the downtrodden poor. No, sadly I am talking about something that would be better suited to Saturday Night Live. Â
I’m talking about laying claim to any one of the limited chaise lounge chairs—even if you are not planning on using it that day at all.
Doesn’t matter.
These things are all the rage at this resort, and it’s the principle of the deal that matters most. It’s your territory, your fire hydrant, your little piece of turf, your—
Well, you get the idea. Just don’t try peeing on it in order to seal the deal. I saw a lot today, but thankfully not that one… Yet.
And I mean, “yet.†Today things got so out of hand with these two fueding families that I would not have been all that shocked if one of them ordered Junior to christen it right then and there. And I would only have been mildly surprised if that alone were to discourage their rivals from still fighting for a stake in that small piece of lucrative Lounge real estate.
Hardly the attitude that the apostle Paul said we ought to have in Philippians 2:3, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
This isn’t just talking about big things but so called little things as well—like lounge chairs. The fact is, if the love of Christ is flowing through you, then fighting over who gets a lounge chair closest to the pool wouldn’t even be on your radar.
But alas, it was on the radar of at least 500 people these last several days. There was even a giant conference (of around, ironically 500 people) from a party thing called, Southern Living. And I must say, they took the battle for the chaise lounge to a whole new level.
You see, my wife likes to get up early and go for walks when we are on vacation. Today she left a little late (for her — 7:00 am), but still pretty early for a resort where most people where in bed hung over. So, since that’s not us, we thought for sure we would beat the party crowd to at least 2 chaise lounge chairs at a minimum of a football fields distance from the pool.
Guess what?
Yep, all gone.
The Southern Living (and I need to clarify this — most of them were really nice people. Just really nice people obsessed with chaise lounge chairs) group sent out some of the older ladies (non-partiers) and got them to not only put towels on over 500 chairs, but also to patrol in shifts up and down the rows to make sure no one dared move one of the decoratively placed beach towels.
When Michelle returned we had a great laugh about it. Almost one of those deals where you laugh till you cry. The behavior was Saturday Night Live funny, but also Jerry Springer weird.
That’s the sinful nature for ya.
Know what else? At least half the chairs were never used. They were just claimed. Kinda like screaming out, “Shotgun†when you want the front seat of the car only to decide you weren’t going to go in the car after all.
I’m laughing right now as I type this.
People can be so funny at times.
Oh, by the way, we got 2 chaise lounge chairs only one row back from the pool. When a couple moved their stuff to pounce on an unguarded pair of chairs even closer—we pounced on theirs.
All in all, a great day.
We leave for home tomorrow but I think we’ll claim a couple chairs anyway just in keeping with the spirit of the whole thing!
It’s a dog eat dog world.
Don’t mess with my chaise lounge chair!
Rob Singleton is the lead pastor and founding pastor of 
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I’m laughing as I read this because this has happened to us before, however, not in the DR. My husband and I witness this at a campground in Myrtle Beach. My folks have a camper there and we frequently take our young children there. During the summer months, there is a line to get into the pool before it opens at 9am. Normally, it’s the grandmotherly type that are waiting and as soon as they open, they dart in and start putting out towels on chairs closest to the poolside and then leave! Most times on their golf carts too! With our young children, we’re never their long enough to see when/if they come back. This year on a weekend visit, I’ve noticed they’ve starting doing this very same thing at the beach too! I find it both annoying and humorous at the same time.
Pastor Rob,
Your experience is so typical of the “All About Me†world so many seem to be living in today.
In our Small Group last night we touched on the subject of people recognizing within themselves “right & wrongâ€.
When I see people flat out living the “All About Me†life, breaking the rules or making up the rules to meet their current desires, I used to get a bit miffed at their actions. These days I am more saddened knowing that if they are willing to blatantly live a life on the outside that exhibits a lack of courteously or careering about how their actions impacts others, just exactly what is their life like on the inside and what kind of true relationship are they building with God.
We do not have to go on vacation to see this.
We see it when a group of people show up at a busy (seat yourself after you order) restaurant. They will send out a “seat scout†immediatly upon arrival to claim a table (dirty or clean) so they will have a place to sit. As for the people that already have food in hand and have no place to sit? Well the table squatter will not make eye contact and they count the uneasy minutes till the group arrives so they again have safety in numbers. Or maybe they feel nothing and that is even harder to live with.
How about folks that arrive at a movie theater just to find a long line at the concession stand. One or two folks from the group go on ahead into the theater and claim a block of seats while the rest of their group are gathering goodies at the snack stand. Leaving folks entering the theater to hunt for open seats just to be told “These are SAVEDâ€â€¦â€¦â€¦.
The world is becoming a more crowded place every day. People are under more and more pressures that in turn will cause some to go into survival mode and toss “rules” and common courtesousy out the window if they feel that is what they must do. In reality now more than ever we should be thinking about being considerate of and helping others not only during these time but always during time on this earth.
Titus 3
Doing What is Good
1- Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2-to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men”
Pastor Rob and Michelle, enjoy your time away. It is going to be a busy Fall at Southbrook and in all the places God has Southbrook reaching out to………..
Now I know what to bring to the Christmas “White Elephant” party. It won’t be an iPod Dock Clock, but a Chaise Lounge chair!! It will be a battle to the end:).
Have a safe trip home.
That’s so funny! When we go to Carowinds and try to get chairs near the wave pool, its the same thing. However, agree with it or not, what I do, is move stuff off of unused chairs and use them. When we are done, we don’t leave our stuff on the chairs, we either take it with us, or find a spot by a tree or fence to leave our things – on the ground – leaving the chairs for actual humans to use!