Day 8: "Life Elevated"

Hello!

This is going to be a short update. One week has passed since I took off from Oregon on my roadtrip with my roommate, John. As we crossed the Idaho/Utah state line, a Utah welcome sign greeted us with a tag line: "Utah: life elevated". When considering that the lowest elevation of Utah is above 2,000 ft., this is definitely true. I've spent the majority of the week above 5,000 ft., and "life elevated" has certain characteristics.

For the first part, the weather has been cooler with a couple of early Spring storms passing by. Several nights have been below freezing, but we've been surrounded by mountain peaks that are covered in snow. We spent two days in Arches National Park hiking and doing extensive photography, followed by four days of backcountry hiking in Canyonlands, the Needles District. This has been John's first visit to any of this area, and he's been fully mesmerized with all the amazing rock formations we've been seeing. The location have had very little light pollution, making for some great night skies amidst the waxing full moon, then the sunrise appears across the red rock, giving us another day to appreciate God's creation here.

John is admittedly a mountains and forests guy. Having lived in the Willamette Valley for the past five years, I can appreciate those who prefer lush landscapes. Being back in the desert though, I have been experiencing a resurgence of excitement and energy as I am surrounded by rock spires, arches, rock strata, and canyons. In the midst of this, I began to think about simplicity. If you think about the different layers of elements to life, the desert is stripped to a bare minimum, while mountains and forests are near the opposite in fullness. Each summer I prepare to move out to the national parks, I go through a stripping process as I have to pare down my living to bare essentials to take with me, and then live content with that for several months. In the midst of the simplicity, I find a greater dependence upon God to supply my every need. In living at the edge, there are more opportunities to watch God work to fill when gaps and needs appear.

Being in a place where I have to recognize God's life working in mine; that's "life elevated".
I have a few photos available in the "Photos of the Week" in the column on the right.

Enjoy your week.