Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes - The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries. --Elizabeth Barrett Browning
New moon, low tide - I'm there. Did I mention the low tide was at 6am? Those are the best. Even the most die-hard night owl can be convinced to forgo sleeping in and rise before the sun comes up once they experience the beauty of the beach as it wakes up. I arrived at Blind Pass on Sanibel early Tuesday morning around 5am. It was pitch black because it was a new moon which means no moon. As I sat in my truck sipping my coffee and mentally preparing to get my shell on, my eyes gradually got used to the dark and the sky was full of stars. It was really dark because there is no enviromental lighting anywhere close. It made the stars appear so near that I felt like I could have reached out and touched one. Then there was a shooting star that blasted across the sky. It reminded me of a chapter from my favorite book "The Shack" where the main character Mac is laying on a dock on a lake at night watching the stars with Jesus. They were just hanging out and t...