Maybe - Just Maybe ... It's me ...

I'm just finishing up 5 days at Bandon Dunes golf resort, and it's a wonderful place right on the west coast of Oregon. The entire place sits on the ocean, sitting about 200 feet above the waterline, with 220 degree views of the ocean from some of the golf holes. Awesome ... Etc. The ocean views are ruggedly spectacular - no people in the water, of course, because up north here, you are more likely to see an iceberg before you see a surfer or sunbather. Just whitecaps and sand dunes as far as the eye can see. Incredibly powerful and hypnotically soothing at the same time.

So last night I was heading to dinner, and as I turned a corner I discovered that there was a sunset taking place that was fully equal to any beautiful sunset I have ever seen. The kind you can only see over the horizon of an ocean view, when the sun is a ball of orange that is sinking into the sea, with a thin band of dark clouds bisecting the radiating sphere while slivers of blue melt into an orange/red glow that slowly but inexorably takes over the sky's palette. I was standing outside the restaurant watching it take shape when a friendly employee approached me and told me he was going to the elevated first tee to get a better view, and he asked me if I wanted to go with him. "No thanks," I replied ...

But about three minutes later, as the sunset just got better and better, I thought, "Why did I say no? It's a bit of a walk, but even though this view is great, maybe there is even a better experience out there across the golf course," and I set off to the tee box to see for myself.

I could see the walk was about 800 yards or so, and I really didn't know exactly where I was going, but I decided I'd just follow my nose and see where I ended up. As I was walking, my phone rang in my pocket, and when I looked at the caller ID, it was Kathy. I'd all ready talked to her earlier in the day, so my first thought was a hope that everything was all right. "Hi, Sweetie," I answered, "What's up?

"Hi," she said. "I just wanted to call an tell you I was thinking about you and how I miss you and how much I love you."

As her last words caressed my ears I was just reaching the top of the flight of stairs that took me to the top of the tee box that brought the full sunset into view in a way that I never could have seen from my ground level starting point. In one charasmatic instant my eyes filled with the view of one of God's signature moments, my heart filled with the loving message from my wife, and my brain clicked like a camera taking a memorable shot - a moment, a feeling, that I can only pray that no matter what my brain chooses to forget as the years go by, please Lord, leave me that moment. I knew that maybe, just maybe, it's me ... maybe I am the luckiest man in the world!!

I felt like I'd run a race and won the big prize - but the best part of winning the big prize is a chance to give it away. God, family, love, caring ... these are the building blocks of life. Not stuff, not the false security of accumulated treasures, and not exercising the need to be dominant or controlling, always right or never wrong. Those are traps that take us away from what God really wants us to be, especially with each other. When I feel the love of my family and the love of God, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you all for loving me. Please know how much I love you.