NO HEIGHT NOR DEPTH

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or principalities, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, no height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, could separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:39

Some of my most cherished memories I will carry the rest of my life began in this small beach town known as Pacific City. My wife and I stumbled across this town many years ago and never stopped coming back for birthdays, anniversaries, and getaways. Every time we stay, I get up before sunrise and start my trek down to the beach and up the mighty sand dune, until I am on the other side where there is always something beyond words to witness and to just be in the presence of true greatness, power, and glory. 

It is not an easy trek and many have met their peril getting to close to an edge and falling off the unstable cliffs made of brittle sandstone. I have never been to a place where I felt like I have been in the belly of a storm or in the stomach of the sea. But this place is it. I sat mesmerized for over 3 hours watching as waves pounded relentlessly onto the seawalls. Some waves were so mighty when they crashed, the ocean spray reached beyond the top of the cliffs. I was in awe as I thought how this drama and violence of the ocean has been playing out since the beginning of time. I thought about how it probably has looked different every single day since it began. I thought about how there was no beginning or end in sight. The waves keep returning to where there from. The sea walls erode more and more everyday by the beating they receive. Everything changes. Nothing stays the same. I return here year after year and the waves never stop their assault on this side of the chasm. It’s violence captivates me. It’s sounds echo through my memory and reverberates through my soul. I will never forget it’s sweeping melody for all my life. I am just in the middle of this. That is all. I am only a part of the whole. With or without me, everything going on will do what it has always done. One wrong move and I could never return the same. Coming back still, I am not the same. 

Fact: The Nestugga Native American tribe were the first settlers here due to being driven from their land that was desimated by one of the largest forest fires in American history (1,500,000 acres) of old growth forest burned caused by a single person starting a brush fire to clear debris. Settlers in 1854 relocated them since then and began lucrative cannery businesses and later logging and dairy farming. The area also became a vacation destination for Oregon Trail pioneers from the midwest who had never seen the ocean.