Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Waiting on the Lord is like Waiting on a Geyser


Our second week of vacation was spent in the very first National Park, Yellowstone. To be honest with you – none of our family had any real idea how truly wondrous and amazing this area is until we saw it for ourselves!  Diverse, awe-inspiring, strange eco-systems, and sweet wildflowers fill the over 2 millions acres of Yellowstone National Park.
1000 miles of hiking trails, 290 waterfalls, plus all sorts of wildlife bison, elk, eagles, foxes, bears, oh my- Yellowstone has just about everything!  Including a grand canyon- who knew?! Resting on and around the world’s largest caldera (with a super volcano underneath) YNP contains ½ of the world’s thermal features…including mud pots, fumardes, and hot springs such as mammoth, or grand prismatic, or blue star, or geysers such as Old Faithful. 
Our family spent an entire morning hiking all around the board walk which surrounds the great geyser basin.  We were joined by a pack of enthusiastic geyser watchers.  This experience for me was another God-moment during our trip.  I had never been a geyser watcher before.  Did not know anything about these thermal features.  Waiting on geysers (which may or may not spout off on time or late or early or not at all) means you watch and wait with a lack of Kronos timing… more like Kairos timing (or God time).  All that is to say putting aside a watch meant I had time to meditate and ponder!  As we walked, waited, sat and contemplated how geysers work and why they do what they do, another scripture came to me… this one from Revelation, And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new”(Rev 21:5). 
God is making things new with through the bubbling works of these thermal features.  Sometimes I forget that while God created all things in God’s timing of 7 days… that does not mean God’s creating power is inactive or has stopped in 2018. 
Yes, Glacier and Yellowstone both show off the evidence of how God creates with the use of force such as tectonic plates of earth crashing into one another.  Giant sheets of deep dense ice banging around and dragging rock and debri for miles.  Moreover, Yellowstone shows off what kind of debri a super volcano leaves by creating either an another mountain range or swallowing a range of hills into its’ molten lava! 
But sitting there quietly waiting on that board walk- I heard God’s creating power!  These gurgling, bubbling springs with their mineral deposits showed me how our earth is still being shaped… and likewise, so too are we!  Graciously slowly… new things are taking shape at Yellowstone which is why you need to go back for another visit!  At least my family and I do.
God is trustworthy and more reliable than any geyser in YNP (yes, even more reliable than Old Faithful)!  Remember who God is and what our God is called?  God’s name is El hanne’eman which in Hebrew means God is faithful!  Jesus is faithful in shaping and re-creating me every day.  So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!(2 Cor 5:17).  If God is doing new things each and every day in such an ancient and wondrous place- how much more is God’s Spirit doing inside you and your life and in me and mine! 
On a final note about our morning spent geyser watching.  Our tour guide wanted to make sure we enjoyed several of the geysers.  He was especially excited to share with us one called Beehive.  In fact, here is a picture of Old Faithful going off with the indicator of Beehive geyser going off at the same time! And when Beehive finally went off… we spent the next 6 minutes running up and down the boardwalk trying not to get soaked in the ice cold water… because it shoots our boiling but falls back down ice cold.
What a fun surprise to get cooled off and drenched by the ongoing handiwork of God’s creating power!  My prayer is that you too are living into God’s faithfulness as God’s Spirit guides your path and creates newness in your life! 

God Lesson from the Trail to Avalanche Lake



God’s creation is wondrous, beautiful, diverse, and intricate!  Like many of you the most engaging ways to explore and appreciate God’s creation happen when we explore our local, state or national parks.  Over a year ago while my family and I enjoyed the Great Smokey Mountain Park in Tennessee, we make a family pact to visit and explore more of our national treasures.  The Psalmist says, Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them”(Psalm 111:2).  And so too our family discovered that we find ourselves renewed and refreshed as we ponder and delight in God’s wonderful creation!
Within our country we have 58 national parks!  In early July my family and I spent a week in the “crown of the continent” otherwise known as Glacier National Park. The continental divide meanders through/under and within the park… or the area of the park was created over it!  This is a land shaped by fire (from lightning storms) and ice (from glaciers)! 
Over a million acres has been dedicated to Glacier and Waterton.  Established in 1910 as a US national park people come from all over to hike the 743 miles of trails in Glacier NP The magnificent area was named as the first international peace park because Glacier NP and Waterton NP are located in Montana and a portion of Canada. 
People come to see grizzlies and mountain goats in their habitats; or be amazed at the modern engineering marvel the Going-to-the Sun road which connects the east and west portions of the park; and/or marvel at the cool moist movement of the 26 glaciers that remain.  Did you know that Triple Divide Peak is the only peak in the world which supplies 3 different oceans?! the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic.
My family and I ran out of words to describe the beauty and wonder of this portion of the US.  Majestic.  Dramatic.  Beautiful.  The huge rocky landscape made us feel grounded and calm.  We simply could not say, “WOW”, often enough!  Our God formed and shaped this part of our world with the powerful push of glacier moving ancient rock.  Therefore, the experience of being there felt like rocky terrain and densely wooded areas as well as the open meadows, offer a profound and deep quiet to your soul.  We can appreciate why at least three native tribes as far back as 12,000 years ago visited this place as a holy site.  Because this place is holy, indeed! 
Like 50% of the visitors to the park the Knight family decided to go on a hike.  We selected the hike to see Avalanche Lake because it did not sound too hard.  Assumption #1.  My family had each of their own special moments on our trip- but this 6 mile hike was when the Holy Spirit reminded me of an important lesson. 
We started in the lush, moist hemlock and aspen forest. Quickly the terrain pushed us upwards so that our elevation shifted at least 500 feet on the way up.  All the guidebooks said this was a doable hike… not too easy, but certainly not a trail exclusively for professional hikers! 
But have you ever been on a hiking trail that did not have any trail signs?  Perhaps a beginning marker sign… but nothing in between to note your progress on the path?  That was the case for this trail.  No signs.  No markings.  While we met lots of families and individuals going up…there was nothing to tell us how far we were from the lake or how close.  The twists and turns of the path and with the gradual elevation going up and down did not give us much of a sense of where we were on the journey.
To be completely honest with you- as we hiked on- shedding jackets and then other layers of clothes as the day got warmer and we got sweatier- I began an inner conversation in my head.  “how much further?”  “why aren’t we there yet?”  “Did I lead my family on a huge mistake?”  Anxiety.  Not knowing.  Feeling kinda ‘blind’… all brought up an inner uneasiness in me.  Maybe you like to know where you are too.  ‘caused an interesting spiritual lesson.
As we meandered along, we asked a traveler who was coming down, “how much further?” to which their non-committal response only caused me more inner frustration. Suddenly when we came to a clearing… for a pause to drink our water and take this photo, I heard a voice in my head say, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path(Psalm 119:105). 
Interesting scripture to receive in the daylight, but a good reminder that God always knows where I am. As I thought about that verse I realized afresh that I am not supposed see any further than my feet. God’s Word is a lamp to my feet… scripture does not say God’s Word is a lamp for the next ¼ mile ahead of my feet!  Be where I am - is where and when God in Jesus will meet me. Do not worry about the next ¼ mile until I get there.
We enjoyed a rest on comfy log and visited with a park ranger.  And then we began our trek back down… recognizing where we had been before and yet still not knowing mile markers or specific points to share with other future travelers.  Instead we offered words of encouragement and promises of “it’s worth it”.  The journey and it’s lesson for me was worth it to be reminded God is faithfulness in the midst of such staggering, and powerful beauty.  Good to be reminded how significantly small I am compared to our Lord’s faithFULLness!