The Ocean is Calling, Must Go

A piece beautifully written and shared by a dear friend. Used with permission.

My beautiful wife Lin and I love taking vacations forty miles north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in an area called Cherry Grove, just south of the North Carolina border. Along the peaceful, picturesque, white sandy beaches of a place we call our “Happy Place.” While wandering through a beach shop, I saw a tee shirt with a picture of the ocean and the words, “The Ocean Is Calling I Must Go!” That message kept calling me over the years, and I started to reflect on my journey to the sea. It is called The Old Man and the Sea.

In the past, I never heard the ocean calling. I was a hiker. I loved hiking in the woods wherever I was, climbing the Camelback Mountains in Arizona, and looking down on my pretend kingdom of Phoenix. I loved driving through the Rockies and the Smokey Mountains. I loved hiking in Banff National Park and Lake Louise in Canada, Glacier National Park, and Yellowstone, to mention a few places. I will always love hiking in the woods and mountains.

Years ago, Lin and I visited her brother Steve and his family, who lived about sixty miles west of the South Carolina shore. After visiting Lin’s brother, we drove to the ocean and stayed just off the beach in Cherry Grove. I smelled the fresh salty air and heard the ocean call my name. We sat on the beach and listened to the waves crashing onto the shore, cooling our feet in the sweltering summer sun. We walked the beach collecting shells and avoiding stepping on jellyfish. It was easy to talk to God and enjoy His great creations. We walked hand in hand, talking about life as the sun rose each morning, just squishing our toes in the wet sand and water as we meandered along the shore. As the waves would roll in and then leave, it would drain the stress of the day out of me. Everything was right with the world.

It seemed like there was only Lin and I to share the day with the peace of God and His dolphins who swam parallel to the shore, jumping, dancing, waving their fins, and putting a show on just for us. Of course, the sandpipers and seagulls were floating in the air, wanting to get into the act, and the pelicans were gliding in perfect formation like the Blue Angels low over the dolphins to get into the act.

Each evening, it was time to go and enjoy the horn of plenty from the sea as we tasted seared tuna, grilled swordfish, flounder, grouper, shrimp, crab, scallops, and other delicacies from the ocean fixed in many different delicious ways.

We would bring our beach chairs to the ocean’s edge every night with a bottle of wine and two glasses. As the sun went down, we were the only ones watching the waves glistening in the moonlight as they washed over the beach as we sipped our wine. The waves seemed to pull and push in a symphonic rhythm, pulling at our heartstrings to keep us returning to the ocean. The soothing rhythm has never let go of us. It keeps calling us back to where the peace and grace open the windows to our souls to reflect and ponder about God’s great creation – the ocean.

The Ocean is calling!