BILOXI, MS – I have this burning inside. There is something down there deep inside. I don’t know what it is. I think I would like to build something. I don’t necessarily mean a house or a boat. I just feel a need to pour my heart into something of value. Life is more than school, work, and weekends. Perhaps life is best savored in the shadows of our own creations rather than the shadows of coconut palms. I think that there is a coming of age through which every man must pass if he is to leave a lasting legacy. My thoughts, for example, haphazardly keyed in from a laptop, will fade because they were not written to last. I have always thought that life should be experienced. But a life experienced still passes by. A life built, however, is captured, shared, and in time immortalizes the man who built it. The songwriter may be forgotten, but he smiles down from heaven as his song brightens generations. That kind of joy is rare. I don’t want to stop chasing dreams.
I believe there will always be room to chase dreams. But I want to build something along the way. I took a walk on the beach today. Maybe it is the nature of the work I am doing down here, maybe it is the feeling of stagnation being out of school for so long, or maybe it is a desire to lead a more Christ-like life, but I feel older than I did in Provo. As I sat and watched the sunset into the water, I felt empty. I’ve never felt like that before. I saw a jellyfish wash ashore. How many people live spineless lives drifting about the world with flashes of brilliant color and long trains of experiences flowing behind them, only to be washed ashore to be pounded by the unpredictable waves of life against the sands of time. I want to do something of substance with my life.
