My 2nd attempt in as many years to ascend Turtle Head Peak in Red Rock Canyon was truly rewarding. I spent considerably more time on the actual trail than I did in my last attempt. I prayed as I climbed, looking hard for the signs that I was still on the main trail. It was not easy. Sometimes a paint daub on a rock gave me assurance. Other times all I could do was my best to read the hints…
I recently watched a documentary of a well-known designer who had grown old and neared the end of his life (he has passed away since I began writing this). From what I know of him, he worked for some of the world’s most influential companies and individuals as he became (in the design world) a household name. He developed his personal brand with a certain star-designer look (normally involves over-achieving hair or striking eyeglasses) that made him and his work stand…
Some things cannot be stopped. Dawn is one of them. Darkness has its limits. With the arrival of the new day comes a recurring hope – built into the rhythm of life. As a young man camping in the woods, I was tormented by the unseen source of growls and howls in the distance (but always seeming to get closer). Every breaking branch surely gave way beneath the claw of some abnormally large (man-eating) animal. Throughout the night my eyes pressed…
It was a stunning sight walking before dawn this morning and seeing the full moon with a soft atmospheric glow around it. There are few things as beautiful on this Earth (or at least seen from this Earth). It would not be possible to recount all the songs or verse inspired by this very sight. Although the moon appeared quite different from the last time I saw it, it occurred to me that it remained absolutely the same. What had changed were…
There is nothing quite like a walk on a wooded path on a Summer morning. Mostly, the journey goes on as expected but, from time to time, I find myself engulfed in a pungent aroma of honeysuckle or jasmine. I am at once overwhelmed and enraptured by the encounter. It reconnects me to the beauty that is beyond me. My heart is flush with wonder and gratitude. Our life-journey is similar to travel along such a path – long stretches of…
In Noah’s time, just after the earth-destroying flood, the rainbow is conspicuously present as God promises Noah and his family grace in the place of judgement. The rainbow is also on display when the Apostle John first looks in on the great scene of worship around God’s throne in the Revelation. Why the rainbow? The rainbow teaches us many things about God’s creation. It is also a striking visual declaration of the omnipotence of our Creator. We see the beauty of Jesus in…
It occurs to me that most of the people we consider exceptional did not consider themselves so. In the scriptures we read of Esther, Abraham, Peter and others who played monumental roles in saving their people, fathering nations, leading the Church. The letters they wrote, the decisions they made, the work they did, for the most part, were a series of daily challenges. Their interactions with people were much like ours. Their choices to believe what was unseen, unsafe, yet…
What suffering, what beauty Is on the Savior’s brow The thorns that grew in tended soil Grow pain and sorrow now The flowering vine once flourished, blessed Makes red the lovely face That wept in longing for his beloved And now stands in her place What beauty, what suffering Was only his to bear Embracing there the cost of love No other soul could share The gathering arms that ever reach to circle all his own Hold tightly to a…
What are the hands of God like? Are they the smooth, coddled hands of the privileged? Are they untouched? Are they working hands? The hands of Jesus grasped, with pleasure, the tools of a carpenter. They were intimately familiar with lumber that needed planing and shaping. He touched the leper – when no one else would… healing years of despair and hopelessness. His hands washed the dirty feet of disciples and lifted the little children into his lap. He was…
Just like the unseen beauty and unseen details of the desert or ocean are to the casual observer, God’s work in our lives and in the details of our world are often unnoticed or unappreciated. Observing, from an encumbered point of view, across the rolling desert, it is easy to miss the washes, canyons and vegetation that are normally hidden within them. Walking among the trees and cacti, usually hidden below the horizon, one can appreciate their beauty and just how…