the far side of the sea

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there Your hand will guide me,

Your right hand will hold me fast."

-psalm 139:9-10

I really like the poetry in the Old Testament: Psalms, parts of Isaiah, etc. This is one of my favorite psalms. I can't give you a good reason why, it just struck me the first time i read it.

There's a lot of different things in there, from God knowing when you rise and when you lay down, to Him making us as creations ' fearfully and wonderfully made,' to the psalmist petitioning God that He would search his heart for any offensive way. It has a lot of good and comforting things in it.

The thing that i love about verses 9 and 10 is that the author is saying even if i go beyond the sea, away from everything I know, away from the temple in Jerusalem where God dwelt, still God will pursue us there. There is no where that is too foreign or too far that God will abandon us. It's not a revelation by any means, but I think the poetics of how it is put here really struck a chord with me. (growing up by the ocean, I find particular peace with scriptures that speak of water and of the sea.)

I think it resonates with me a lot right now. I've moved far away from where I experienced and grew in God the most in my life; Blacksburg, College, IV, Pritchard. And so part of me equates that place and those people with God. Like in the Old Testament where God did something for the patriarchs or the Israelites and they would erect monuments or altars, I feel like there are places back at Virginia Tech I could do that for. The tree to the right of War Memorial Chapel, litton reeves 1670, bollos, Allen and Dave's apartment/rooms over the years, pritchard crossover lounges and burchard plaza are all places where God did something in my life. I don't have a lot of those places here. I don't have that same history with God in Chesapeake.

And maybe I never will, maybe this is my wilderness and God will lead me out of it into somewhere else. I don't know.

Is anyone else like this? Do you have places where you would build altars of remembrance for what God has done or just places you've experienced God more often? Where are they? What kind of places are they?