I experienced two
incredible but seemingly
opposite attributes of God.
His radical beauty.
and
His endless strength.
I'm in Laguna Beach, CA
for the week with my
best friend and her family.
I started the morning soaking
up His creation laid out before me.
Standing on top of the fenced in
lookout, nearly atop a short cliff fall,
I breathed in the
the fluffy sandy beach
with crystal blue water
spilling over the tops
of red mossy rock,
creating playful
whirl pools in the midst
of ocean's the ebb and flow.
The cool coastal breeze
hugged my face and arms tightly
as I closed my eyes and inhaled
the wonderful scent,
created by my Heavenly Father.
I was present.
And He was present.
And we were together.
His beauty is so blatantly obvious
when you encounter
something as captivating as the coast.
Radical beauty is born
in the moment a wave from the vast
ocean crashes against a dauntless rock,
standing in the midst of it all.
Then, I finished the evening off
on a deep-sea fishing boat
with a mission to see a whale!
Our little boat was no match
against the raging sea.
We departed at high tide,
so the waves were rough.
The captain called from the
upper deck for all who wished to
remain dry, to head to the back
of the boat or to the lower deck.
Many of the passengers stayed
towards the bow,
cameras in hand,
ready to capture something
astounding.
Then, we saw them.
Hundreds of dolphins,
swimming alongside our boat,
jumping and flipping
for our amazement.
Then it happened.
We were out a good
8 or 9 miles from the shore,
and our boat was turning
into the sharp waves.
The bow of the boat
dove nose first into an unforgiving
wave, recklessly rolling like a barrel,
in our direction.
This created a sort of wall of salt water,
which spilled into the boat,
over the outer railings
and onto us with nowhere to go.
Three women fell onto the deck
like dominos after being thrown from their
place of watch.
One lady grabbed hold of
Emily's arm during her free fall,
desperately trying to save herself from the
flooded deck beneath her.
We helped them up
and maneuvered our bodies
in an effort to keep them being thrown
from the very nose of the boat.
Our clothes were now drenched
in sea water and as I wiped my dripping eye lashes
with my soggy sweatshirt sleeves, we heard
the captain and many of the
passengers who escaped the tidal wave
yell "look, a whale!"
A massive fin whale, the
size of the very boat we were sailing in
came up out of the water
to show off its strength.
After the tidal wave,
all passengers retreated to the lower deck
or the back of the boat.
But Emily and I stayed.
We were leading this adventure now.
We'd reached the point of no return,
our clothes were drenched,
so we decided to embrace the experience.
Placing our feet carefully
on the deck,
we rode each wave,
like we were surfing,
as the boat was being thrown
and tossed by the waves.
Each time our faces
were blasted by another swallow,
we'd wipe our eyes, sometimes
in time to see water spray
out of a whale's blowhole.
In total,
we saw four whales.
All were insanely vast and strong.
They'd come up out of the water and
reveal their all-encompassing size
and incomprehensible strength.
All the while, we were in a small boat,
sailing on open water, containing
an indescribable depth with the ability
to swallow us whole.
We weren't whale watching,
we were adventure seeking.
I closed my eyes and breathed
in the crisp salt-water smell
created by my Heavenly Father.
I was present.
And He was present.
And we were together.
Today I didn't just experience
a beautiful beach and embark on a
crazy adventure,
I experienced God Himself,
in comparison to His ocean.
His amazing depth,
similar to the depth of the sea,
His incredible power,
with the ocean's ability to swallow us
in its torrential waves, like arms
reaching for the sky.
"The power of God is to be feared."
His astounding strength,
in the form of a massive whale,
yet His beauty,
radiated by the sun reflecting
off of the coastline of Laguna Beach,
His intricate nature, demonstrated
by the detailed rocks laid out
along the shore and stacked on
top of each other, creating amazing depth.
Our Heavenly Father
can really show off.
He is beautiful.
and
He is strong.
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