To savor the last gasp of summer, my family traveled to a favorite destination spot last weekend—Yachats, Oregon, a tiny little town on the Oregon coast.
Pronounced Yaw-hots, this gem of a berg tucked along the Pacific boasts fewer than seven hundred residents. From beginning to end, its horseshoe shape wraps around an inlet of water the natives call a bay.
Controversy exists over the meaning of the name. According to Wikipedia, some attribute the name Yachats to the Siletz language meaning “dark water at the foot of the mountain.” Others maintain it is a place name of another Native American tribe—the Alsea.
Whatever its origin, Yachats is a sleepy little town where everything closes by nine and night life is listening to the roar of the ocean outside your balcony window.
My family didn’t care. We came to rest, cool off from the sizzling valley heat where we live, and enjoy each other’s company before schedule changes and fall commitments demanded more.
My daughter challenged us to a game of Monopoly, then proceeded to skunk her opponents as she bought up more than half of the available properties. My son brought movies, one for each evening, and we enjoyed them without popcorn, since I’d forgotten to pack any. My husband took us sightseeing along the water, through the sprinkling of shops along the main thoroughfare, and drove us to dinner in a nearby community which offered a little more variety.
Saturday, during one excursion along a rocky precipice circling the bay, I watched fishermen casting lines into the surf. I worried they were no match for the height of the waves crashing against the rocks, mere feet from where they stood. The huge expanse of the ocean was mind-boggling—we humans mere bits of sand against the size of the sea. I paused, thinking how much greater our heavenly Father must be.
In Psalm 46:1,3 the psalmist writes: (NKJV) “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear. . .Though earth’s waters roar. . .” In Psalm 46:10 we are told “Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Standing beside the force of the ocean, I sensed God’s creation proclaims how great He is. Can I do any less?
