Sunsets, right? Just, wow.

I've always been a huge fan of sunsets. Whether I was on vacation in Michigan, on the beach in Galveston or just at home after dinner, I have always loved watching sunsets. It was always breathtaking to be in a car riding home and suddenly turn a corner and see the brilliant colors of a good sunset.

This year was my first time living away from home at the University of St. Thomas, right in the middle of the city of Houston. To me, that meant less chances to see the sunset. With the higher buildings crowding the street, I thought that, for sure, the sunset would always be blocked from view.

However, on the Saturday night before classes started, my roommate and I decided to go on an adventure to find our classes before we were completely overwhelmed on Monday. We had almost found all of them when I turned around and, BAM! There was the sun saying goodnight. I immediately started looking for places to fully appreciate the beauty that was happening in the sky. That was when I noticed the five-story parking garage directly facing the sunset. Luckily, my roommate had found it too and we both started running, not wanting to miss a second. Breathless, we reached the top to find that we couldn't have picked a better place to watch that night's sunset.

After that night, I went back to that garage roof almost every night I could to watch what the sun had in store for me. Maybe I got obsessed, but maybe it doesn't matter. What matters is what I've realized from those nights watching the sun go down in all of its beauty.

Sunsets motivate me. I mean, God created those sunsets. He created them specifically because he knew at least someone would see them, appreciate them, need them and crave them. If God can create something that breathtakingly magnificent, it makes me wonder what else is behind that creation. The creation is only as good as the creator, so if a sunset can be beautiful not only to my eyes, but to every set of eyes that looks upon that setting sun, how amazing is its creator?

While looking at this sunset, I am thinking all of these things. I am thinking about the amazing creator that paints the sky for me and all of creation, and I am thinking about my own amazement. But I am also thinking about how some people look at this sun and all they can see is the end of a workday, or a time to find shelter before the cold of night.

That is why sunsets motivate me -- to change that. To find those people that are not able to see the beauty of the sunset every night because instead they have to worry about how to get their own family through a night filled with hunger or violence. Sunsets motivate me to make a difference in this world, and as long as God keeps his end of the deal, His visual representation of His own beauty on Earth, then I will keep my end of the deal too.