Awesome Place

In Genesis 28 a tormented Jacob sets out on a journey (more of a flight) from Beersheba to Haran.  The text (v. 11) tells us only that he chose his spot for the night “because the sun had set.”  In other words, this was no special place.  Yet this is where “Jacob’s Ladder” dream occurred.  Thereafter, he thinks to himself: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it….  How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven.”  What made the place so “awesome?” What made it “the gate of heaven?”  It occurs to me that what made it special was that this was a spot where Jacob’s mind was open to God’s presence.  That is, of course, what can transition any place to an “awesome” place.