There is something indescribable and wondrous about the vast and endless sea. The call of the ocean, echoing in history, throughout the future. I cannot recall physically going into the ocean for the past 30 years. It is an amazing feeling, a feeling of both insignificance and of fortitude: insignificance in the realization of how tiny and insubstantial I am, but strength in realizing that of all creatures in creation this world was made for me.
I, as human, represent the pinnacle of crowning achievement for creation; the most complex, the most intriguing of all creatures with my abilities to think and love and reason in unique ways: being granted the blessing (or curse) of being one of the few known reasoning creatures that will spend most of my lifetime contemplating my own mortality.
I started this weak on Cocoa Beach officiating the wedding of my brother-in-law, and new sister-in-law: Jeremy and Rebecca Jewers. It was an honor and a privilege to be asked to perform the ceremony, it is the second time in my life I have been called upon to do such an amazing thing. Marriage is as wonderful as birth, and baptism; both representing a transition, a newness, a transformation from old to new; from form to form.
The wedding started with the scene from the Princess Bride: Mawage, Mawage is what bwings us togethwer today. It was the perfect fit, a perfect couple: a farm boy turned pirate and a princess. Two people, that were meant to be together.
On our last night on the beach, Amanda and I were taking a walk down the beach in the moonlight and we ran into a majestic but ominous looking foot long crab. We were in awe at his size and amazed at his beauty, until we saw that he held in his claw a baby hatchling loggerhead turtle.
We immediately went into rescue mode. I took on the crab (and he was vicious!) and encouraged him to drop the turtle (ok, I might have kicked him in the rear with my bare foot while Amanda kept his attention). Then, while I kept the crab occupied (he continued coming after me), Amanda guarded the baby turtle as it made it to the water.
In the end, we both were able to watch the turtle swim out to sea, and we then returned to the crab to take a picture of him. He belongs on the wall of shame! This was one of the most amazing things I have experienced in nature.
We are now preparing, after a full week of God’s beautiful nature to head back to the city of San Antonio. We miss friends there, but honestly, we are not overly excited to go back; we miss the nature, the openness, the sea breeze of the east coast. It’s hard to say what the future will hold for us, but one thing for sure. Home is where the heart is, and there is no place like home.
