Hello!
What a full week! Over the past two weeks, my buddy, John, and I have been hiking and exploring five national parks and several further beautiful locations. John calculated that we hiked a total of 84 miles during our trip and experienced some magnificent places in God's creation!
While there are so many things to share...and photos will follow sometime soon, I wanted to share about our backcountry hike last weekend. We hiked 24 miles over 3 days descending into the Grand Canyon and back. This was my first time doing backcountry hiking in the Grand Canyon (I had never hiked beyond the rim before this trip), and we had to take extra measures to ensure we had enough water, warmth, and supplies. First and foremost was ensuring that our hikes were safe as we hiked along exposed cliffs and down loose rocks along the trail. By the time we finished our hike, we were sore from descending and climbing over 5,000 of vertical feet along the way, often with full packs.
Simply describing our hike in the Grand Canyon would fill this post, but the experience was as much a spiritual journey as a physical one: our trip corresponded with Easter weekend. We descended into the canyon on Good Friday, reaching the depths of the canyon on Saturday, and re-emerging from the canyon on Sunday morning. When hiking under full packs it is easy to consider themes of suffering, but when surrounded by the majesty of God's creation, something else gained prominence. In the middle of the desert, we were astounded to see the far reaches of life within the heat and formidable landscape of the canyon. In the midst of impossibilities, we saw small trees growing along vertical cliff faces, cacti leaning over ledges, bushes sprouting from stand-alone rocks, and small flowers popping out of sand. Where death was precariously close, life was abundant.
During the early hours of Resurrection Sunday, John and I hiked to the edge of our mesa to watch the sunrise and shared what this journey had meant to us. While hundreds were gathering at Mather Point on the rim for a sunrise service, John and I were alone upon our remote mesa. Growing up in churches, Jesus' resurrection was a powerful act of God, but did not bear the same extent of power that it took for Him to be crucified. In the Bible, others had been raised from the dead, so Jesus' resurrection wasn't anything new--it was expected. My three days in the canyon were spent considering the vast power of God to create such an enormous, yet intricately beautiful place, and here I sat on the edge of a mesa cliff in the middle of the Grand Canyon, surrounded by towering buttes and temples above with looming gorges beneath as sunlight began to illuminate the high ridges. To ponder that the power of resurrection surpassed the creative power that God put into forming such a grand canyon left me stunned. Resurrection power--not just making life exist, but bringing life out of death in places least expected--is what God demonstrated that Easter morning so long ago. That is the type of power we celebrate and give thanks for each year.
And to think that God has given this same resurrection power to each of us for our own healing and to bring healing to others; my eyes began to tear up. Sunlight reached our mesa, flooding me with warmth and ridding me of any residual sleepiness. I was able to make our final climb out of the canyon, re-emerging into a new perspective, one that I pray leaves me changed.
That was by far the best Easter Sunday service I had experienced ever! I am so grateful for such a remarkable gift.
Heading to my summer post this week. I'll have more photos and stories from this trip to share later.
Blessings on your week!
Photos are available on the "Photos of the Week" link.
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