The Edge of the Earth

I'm on vacation in Atlantic City, North Carolina. My family is renting two beach houses, next door to each other, right on the beach. With all the spouses and extended family, we have about 22 people. So far, it has been the best vacation I can ever remember having.
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Last night, a big storm was rolling in. I sat in a rocking chair on the back porch, facing the ocean, letting the wind whip past me as I stared out into the dark landscape beyond the deck. The sea oats were flailing, and the entire scene was lit periodically by lightning from the distance. The storm clouds had not yet reached the shore, but the sky was rather unusually clear, letting the stars shine through.

I sat with my grandfather. He was discussing with me his life, and his advice for moving forward in the young adult stage. He is one of the wisest and quick-witted men that I have ever known. I sat listening to him speak while rocking in the swift, salty wind, anticipating the huge storm that was on its way.

I felt something that I have felt many times before, but never in the way I did last night.
Rising to my feet, I was asked where I was going. Not wanting to entirely betray the overwhelming calling I was feeling, I whimsically replied something about needing to have a meeting at the shore with Poseidon.

The path from the porch to the surf is only about seventy yards. I walked quickly and nervously into the wind and toward the roaring ocean.

Arriving at the edge, right where the waves reach their limit, I stopped, and looked up. I looked left. I looked right.

It is almost impossible to describe how it feels to stand on the edge of the world.



I could see the curve of the earth in the dark horizon. It seemed like an eternity away, but I knew it was only about three miles. It's at least three thousand miles to the nearest land, Morocco or Portugal. I just researched the average depth of the Atlantic, which is 10,936 feet deep. I cannot comprehend that number. I cannot imagine the size of the Atlantic Ocean. It was terrifying to stand there. It was just so loud, with the wind and the waves, and everything so black, deep, and vast.

It seemed like a perfect time to talk to God. After all, I was alone, and very afraid, and certainly vulnerable, seeing how this massive storm was on its way. So I began. And while the contents of the prayer are certainly not public material, I must say that as time went on, I began to look up. There was still space in the sky for stars to shine through, before the blackness arrived.

I've never felt this way before. It was like I might just fall off the face of the planet and get lost in the sky somewhere. I was so fondly aware that I was standing on the edge of a globe, floating out in space. I almost felt like I was not myself, not in my body, as though I had lost my identity.

I don't know where God is, but wherever He is, I know that he created all of this. Everything fits into it's natural order, and follows laws. Nothing passes beyond it's bounds. Something as perfect and beautiful and powerful as this earth, was created by a perfect and beautiful and powerful Being. I know that being is my Father. As I thought last night upon the fact that I am a Son of God, who formed everything I was experiencing, I felt a peace, and a calm.

I came to myself, and hurried back to the house before I could be swept away.