Thanks to Michael C. Glosson for this picture of The Sportsman and the Oceanana fishing piers between Atlantic Beach and Fort Macon, North Carolina. The Sportsman was taken out by a hurricane, and yes, Oceanana is the way to spell this motel and pier. I spent a lot of time here as a boy, skimboarding, surfing, swimming and hanging out on the pier. Check my comment for a poem I wrote while waiting for a coming hurricane.
This was a great place to enjoy the sun, sand and surf during the day and visit with vacationers at night, while they fished. However, one night I went to the end of the Sportsman to watch as a hurricane barreled down on Carteret County. With wind and spray ripping at my face, I peered into the sea's dark abyss, seeing only the frothing whitecaps as they were lit up by the shore lights. The pier swayed and shook with the crashing waves. I thought about the Christian life as a metaphor and in a moment God gave me a poem. In fact, I had to run back to the pier house in order to write it down. If you have any questions about the imagery, I will be glad to answer. As you can see, it is a poem about holiness of heart and life.
Staring out at the deep dark sea,
Arouses thoughts that challenge me,
To shove my bark through the crashing waves,
And reach a land that my spirit craves.
In spite of dark and tossing brine,
And chills that grip this mortal spine,
My soul cries out for that waiting shore,
Where wind and wave offend no more.
Though darkness and the strength of hell,
Are bound up in each rising swell,
My Chart and Compass point above,
I'm steered and pow'rd by Perfect Love.
David L. Gould
