Actually, my homing sequence is correct. First the Z moves, which makes good sense because you don't want the Z axis to crash into any tooling or work pieces that happen to be in the way when the X/Y begin to move toward Home.
As for the Safe_Z function, I figured out how to enable it and set the offset, but the function works only for "Go To Zero". It does not work for Home. So, I think I'm simply going to reconfigure my Z Home switch to a higher position that would clear anything on the table. That should resolve my problem and it's probably the BEST solution.
Thanks again for everyone's input!
BTW - The MACH3 is an incredible piece of software. I've used very expensive GE/Fanuc CNC controllers over the years and I must say that MACH can do just about everything the Fanuc controller can do at a tiny fraction of the cost. I am totally blown away by its capabilities! I'm a very happy and satisfied customer.
Mike