I’m not much of an art connoisseur. I do know that a dude named van Gogh like to paint or something. I also know he only had one ear. It’s been told that he cut it off himself. Now that’s high-strung.

I have never studied statues and the like. I remember reading somewhere that Michelangelo laid on his back on a scaffold and did some serious painting on a ceiling, but that’s about the extend of my knowledge of art.

I have never met Beethoven, but I bet he was nice guy. I don’t suppose I’ve heard any of his music from beginning to end, but in my teens there was a rock group who covered the Chuck Berry Song “Roll Over Beethoven.”

My favorite classical musician is Bob Seger. You know, the gentleman who sang those sweet lyrics to such tunes as “Katmandu,” “Mainstreet,” and “Night Moves.” Let’s hear some orchestra try to top that.

While I have admitted that I don’t know much about art, I do know beauty when I see it. Beauty is the eye of the beholder, and my eyes were doing some serious beholding last week. I observed the most beautiful work of art I’ve ever seen.

You could almost imagine how the artist put this creation together — a sweep of the hand, a forming of clay here, a stroke of the paint brush there. 

The creation was so unreal, so beautiful it looked as though it was a forgery. But of course, it was not. Nobody or nothing could fake this creation. It is the only one in existence. The only one of its kind.

Its creator is God. The creation is the Grand Canyon.

I finally got to see it for myself. There is no way it can be described to you, because as you are seeing it your eyes can’t comprehend what they are seeing.

It seems as though you are standing on a cliff looking into a valley and seeing 300 miles of painted canvas. You have to figure its not real, because your eyes have never seen anything like it before and never will again.

And every time you look at it — even from the same spot — it looks different.  A local told me she had been to the canyon more than a thousand times and had never seen the same thing twice. It’s really captivating.

My favorite view of the canyon came in an obscure place away from the flow of the crowds. We left the hotel and motel area and began our trek out of the park. On the way we noticed a pull off on the left.

We got out, walked past some trees and there it was — The Grand Canyon, just as some explorer must have seen it as he stumbled upon it.

Awesome, simply awesome.

In fact, it is not fair for me to try and describe the sight. There are not enough words to explain it. There is not enough talent in my fingers or mind to show you who I want you to see. Just go see it for yourself at least once.

And take an oxygen mask if they’ll let you. It will take your breath away.

I may never go back, and that’s fine, because it will just clutter my mind with even more beauty before I can figure out what it was I saw.

I would just like the acknowledge the artist that put this creation together and say bravo! Even a non-art patron can see that this artwork is priceless.

Austin Bishop, AKA The Old Sports Dude, has been covering high school, college, amateur and professional sports since 1975. He is currently pastor of Great Commission Assembly of God in Philadelphia. He may be contacted by email at starsportsboss@yahoo.com.

Editor’s Note: This column first published in The Meridian Star in June of 1988.