Life Lessons from the National Parks

JANUARY 19, 2012

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.    1 Timothy 6:7

There was a significant burial at Pearl Harbor (more formally known as World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument) recently.

Frank Cabiness’s cremated remains were placed inside the U.S.S. Arizona, the battleship he served on which was sunk by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. It took nine years after his death for his family to fulfill his wishes, because they didn’t have the means to travel to Hawaii, but they made sure to finally get it done. “He said it was because that’s where he belonged,” said his son, in an article in The New York Times.

Many Arizona crewmembers who lived during the attack at Pearl Harbor have chosen the ship as the final resting place for their ashes; same with the nearby Utah, the only other battleship sunk that day that remains in the harbor. Most of the 1,177 sailors and Marines who died on the Arizona—more than any other ship or unit—are entombed on the vessel, which sank nine minutes after a Japanese bomb hit it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my family and I visited the Arizona memorial in September. As we solemnly stared at the wall listing the names of the dead, we watched as veteran after veteran saluted their fallen comrades.

I’m glad the Cabinesses were able to fulfill their father’s wish to be reunited with his lost shipmates. As the family can surely attest, though, his ashes were all that joined them. He didn’t take any possessions with him, even his most precious mementos.

Of course, as with all of us, whatever Mr. Cabiness left behind had to be dealt with somehow. The Times article notes that his survivors proudly retain the only thing he managed to leave the Arizona with when he escaped death 70 years ago—a watch stopped at 8:15, the moment when he hit the water after jumping from the ship.

Financial experts plead with us to make wills, to plan for the disposition of property and care of minor children. You decide how you want to distribute your earthy goods and who you want to raise your kids, and put it in writing, they caution, or the government will make the choice for you—and the results may not be what you wanted.

What’s usually not mentioned in the discussion of estate planning is a much more important matter that also must be taken care of this side of the grave. It concerns the only thing that does last beyond this life: the soul. We all must make provision for it before death, lest we lose our choice in its final disposition.

And yes, there is a choice:

I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction… Deuteronomy 30:15

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…  Joshua 24:15

Indifference is a choice many make, the choice of not choosing, you might say. Maybe you don’t especially worry what happens to your possessions after you die: “I’ll be gone, what do I care?” But not choosing your soul’s ultimate destiny leads to unthinkable consequences:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  2 Corinthians 5:10

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books where opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books…If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:12, 15  

Of course, you can choose not to believe—that’s also an option. That’s what the rich man did in a parable Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31. He supposed that a good time on earth would translate into the same after death. Instead, he found his soul in torment in hell. “Have pity on me,” he pleaded with Abraham far away in heaven, “for I am in agony in this fire.” But the patriarch replied, “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

“Warn my brothers, so they don’t end up here!” he begged. Abraham noted they already had all the information they needed to avoid his fate. “But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent,” the rich man finally implored. “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,” Moses concluded, “they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead” (which is just what Jesus did!).

Why do people dither in making wills? The expense, possibly. Usually, though, I think it’s because they don’t want to think about death. The irony of that is—it’s inevitable! The odds of death are 100%! The question then becomes, why put all you’ve worked for and perhaps your children at risk?

We need to ask ourselves the same question about our soul. One major lesson from the parable in Luke is that it still remains alive after our body dies. So why bet the farm through either apathy or outright disbelief, and leave the unavoidable outcome to chance? “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Just as with a will, the time to do something about it is now, before it’s too late, because there’s no do-over after death.

God already has made provision for our souls. He’s made it clear He wants you and me with Him. He doesn’t send people to hell all by Himself; those who turn their back on Him have chosen that future themselves. And He doesn’t enjoy it in the least: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).

Hopefully you’ve made a will. Would you go a step further and make a will for your soul, if you haven’t already? Choose to join me, not in body but in spirit, in a glorious heaven where there’s no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4), and where we’ll be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Because that is where we truly belong.

Comments (2) Jan 19 2012

January 3, 2012

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You. 2 Chronicles 20:12

The death this week of Mount Rainier park ranger Margaret Anderson is sad on so many levels. She was killed in the line of duty, leaving behind a husband (a fellow ranger) and two young children. Her parents are still living; I can only imagine their unique pain. And Mrs. Anderson’s killer himself is now dead from exposure to the park’s harsh weather. According to news reports, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq, was estranged from his wife and child, and is suspected of being behind the wounding of four others.

“Senseless” is how a neighbor of Anderson’s parents described the tragedy. The suspect blew through a checkpoint set up to ensure travelers’ tires where equipped with chains to navigate the snowy roads, and when he came upon a roadblock set up by Ranger Anderson, he opened fire on her.

The story made the front page of my local newspaper, because her father is a pastor of a Lutheran church here in New Jersey, in the town where she graduated high school. In his Sunday sermon, the paper states, delivered mere hours before his daughter’s death, the Rev. Paul Kritsch encouraged his parishioners to meet adversity in this new year with strength and faith. Now he and his wife will have to do that as perhaps they never have before.

Undoubtedly you too have come through situations that have shaken your world. I have. The most recent one was four years ago, when my mother-in-law began her descent into dementia that ultimately led to her death. Joe and I regularly experienced heartache, anger, confusion, frustration, fear and helplessness during the two years of his mother’s illness. Jehoshaphat’s prayer in 2 Chronicles as he faced a huge invasion of his fiercest enemies became mine. I had never before dealt with impending death in such an intimate way, and had no clue how to handle it.

“Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine,” Jehoshaphat said to God, “we will stand before [You] and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us…For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us” (2 Chronicles 20:9, 12). Like this Old Testament king, all I could do was look to the Lord who’d seen me through many other crises. He had the power; I had none.

I pray for the families affected by the tragedy at Mount Rainier. And I pray for all of us as we endure tough times, that we would keep your eyes on the God who answers and says, “Do not fear or be dismayed…for the battle is not yours but Mine” (v. 15).

Comments (1) Jan 03 2012

December 31, 2011

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  Ecclesiastes 12:13

My mom forwarded me this interesting set of photographs by Alex Wypyszinski, taken in Yellowstone in 2010. You might title it Bear v. Bison.

As you can see, the bison doesn’t look so good. Rangers examining the photos later confirmed that it probably fell into one of Yellowstone’s scalding thermal pools (I mentioned in a previous post that bison like to gather near the boiling water to soak up the warmth, and sometimes slip in). The poor animal’s legs and flank show red, raw skin where its fur had been burned away.

The two animals apparently paid no attention to the photographer, who jumped into his car to escape the stampede. The pair rushed passed him at a good clip, but as they reached the tree line by the side of the road, they each veered off in different directions.

Rangers found the injured bison the following day, and put it out of its misery. Some of the comments posted with the photos took issue with that, but as one person put it, “As incredibly tough as bison are, this particular animal was destined to die from infection after days of suffering or predation…Letting nature take its course may sound nice to some folks, but I’m just not into watching an animal suffer needlessly.”

But I found this to be the best comment: “I bet he thought he was the luckiest buffalo ever after outrunning a grizzly, only to get shot the following day. That’s what I call having a bad week.”

Life, like nature, can be messy, both beautiful and terrible at times, full of bad days, bad weeks, bad months, bad years. Even Solomon, to whom God gave a wise and discerning heart unlike any other (1 Kings 3:5-12), couldn’t figure out all of life’s ups and downs; he admits his wisdom only enabled him to see them more clearly (Ecclesiastes 1:18).

The entire book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s contemplation of life’s frustrations (1:4-11, 3:1-8). He questions why the lack of justice (4:1-3), and the futility of work, political success, pleasure, wealth (chapters 4 and 5) and ultimately, of wisdom itself: “I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, ‘I will be wise,’ but it was far from me…I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the wise man should say, ‘I know,” he cannot discover” (7:23, 8:17).

Ecclesiastes can seem like a real downer, bookended with the chorus of  “Vanity of Vanities! All is vanity” (1:2, 12:8), with more talk of vanity in between. Add in world-weary phrases like, “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun” (1:9), and the book seems to promote an almost helpless or meaningless outlook.

Perhaps not quite what you’d expect from the Bible, except…God is there, right in the middle of it.

The one thing Solomon could wrap his mind around was that the world would be a real bummer if it were not for Him. God Himself ordains the continual cycle of life events, he discovered, “appoint[ing] a time for everything” and giving us an eternal perspective, so that while we won’t always understand all of life’s mysteries, we can look beyond them (3:11). And we can find joy along the way: “Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward…For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart” (5:18, 20).

As we head into 2012, my prayer is that we’ll be renewed by enjoying life as a gift (2:24), while offering due reverence to God (12:13), the greatest Giver of all (John 3:16).

A terrific prescription for a great new year!

Comments (0) Dec 31 2011

December 19, 2011

Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature. Hebrews 1:3

I was paging through The New York Times Magazine’s winter travel issue, when I came across a photo spread with the model Heidi Mount, which was shot in Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.

I’d never heard of Ms. Mount, but the accompanying text clued me in a bit as to why the Utah locations were used. First, she grew up in a suburb of Salt Lake City, four and a half hours away from the parks, and every spring break her family would travel there or to nearby Bryce Canyon. Her favorite arch, in case you’d care to know, is Delicate according to the article (“it’s the classic, it’s on the [state] license plate”).

Second, Ms. Mount was modeling “fall’s lumberjack chic” for the magazine. I guess the editors equated parks with lumberjacks. I would have thought woods, not rocks…

It’s not the first time the Times and I disagree. The paper’s idea of “chic” typically is not even remotely close to mine, and some of the photos are, as usual, weird.

But there is one funny one, with Ms. Mount positioned in such a way that the arrow for Hole N” the Rock, near Canyonlands, appears to be pointed at her open mouth.

The text was written by Sally Singer, who was inspired to visit the Moab area by reading Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness, an account of his stint as a ranger in Arches. Ms. Singer talks about sleeping in tents with an “outdoorsy” friend, and hiking through Arches’ Fiery Furnace (looks thrilling!) and Canyonlands’ sandstone spires, called Needles.

Some of the phrases Ms. Singer uses to describe what she saw are “crazily beautiful friezes,” “surreal statuary” and “jaw-dropping rocks,” making her time there one of “unreal privilege and glamour.”

I don’t know if she saw God in her visit; I know I do in the photos. It’s easy for me to be awestruck in the face of so much natural beauty.

Sometimes, though, I find it harder in my everyday life, and definitely harder around this time of year, bombarded with the busyness of shopping for gifts, baking cookies and sending cards. The Christmas rush constantly threatens to keep me away from meditating on the simple truth behind all the trappings.

Perhaps you find the same thing happening to you. If so, please take a moment to follow this link to something written by my friend Susan, inspired by the Christmas carol, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” She says it much more beautifully than I ever could.

I pray that this Christmas, you and I will not only see and hear, but KNOW the radiance of God’s glory and the representation of His merciful, gracious and loving nature (Psalm 86:15), as embodied by the Baby whose birth we celebrate.

Comments (3) Dec 19 2011

December 8, 2011

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Yesterday marked the “date that will live in infamy,” as President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor 70 years ago.

This day of remembrance is especially meaningful to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, founded by military personnel on the island of Oahu on December 7, 1941. The roster began with 28,000 members, reports an article in The New York Times, but that number has fallen to around 2,700 (an estimated 8,000 Pearl Harbor survivors are still alive).

Yesterday’s gathering will be the last one marked by the Association. It will disband on December 31 because there aren’t enough survivors to keep the organization running, due to the veterans’ declining health and deaths. “We have no place to recruit people anymore,” says Harry R. Kerr, the director of the Southeast chapter. December 7 only happened on one day in 1941.”

As you might imagine, some Pearl Harbor survivors are concerned that this significant event in their—and the nation’s—lives will be relegated to a small notation in a history book, or even forgotten all together. “I was talking in a school two years ago, and I was being introduced by a male teacher, and he said, ‘Mr. Kerr will be talking about Pearl Harbor,’” said Kerr. “And one of these little girls said, ‘Pearl Harbor? Who is she?’”

My family and I were fortunate to be able to go to Hawaii earlier this year, and we visited Pearl Harbor, part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. Joe loaded some of the pictures he took during the trip to the background of this blog, and among those are a photo of the memorial built over the sunken remains of the U.S.S. Arizona, and another of the ship’s anchor.

We got to the park early, since we’d heard it gets crowded later in the day. Park Service and Navy personnel are on board the boat we took to the actual memorial site, and the mood is somber and respectful. There wasn’t much talking among all us visitors on the way over, and especially not at the memorial and on the return trip. We all gazed at what we could see of the Arizona’s deck under water, and at the stacks visible above and the buoys marking aft and stern. We solemnly crowded into the room listing the names of those who died aboard the ship, many of whom are entombed there. Although we didn’t know anyone who had family who died at Pearl Harbor, we were still moved, remembering the terrible toll from that fateful day and the war that followed.

Both of Joe’s parents served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, my father was briefly in the Marines, and my mother and her parents worked in a munitions factory, so we’ve heard their stories. But now, only my mother remains alive as an eyewitness to us of that part of U.S. history.

As the Pearl Harbor survivors wonder, so do I: will future generations remember the significance of December 7? I don’t know the answer, any more than the Pearl Harbor survivors do.

But what I do know is that the significance of December 25 will endure. Christmas is much more than a one-time event; it’s the Person of Jesus, the “Mighty God [and] Eternal Father” (Isaiah 9:6) whose kingdom will have no end (Isaiah 9:7, Daniel 7:14). His birth, “officially” celebrated one day of the year, is still remembered daily some 2,000 years later. He died but didn’t remain in the tomb, unlike the poor sailors of the Arizona. He “is and was and is to come” (Revelation 1:8), residing in heaven and with the recruits He still calls (Matthew 11:28).

Immanuel…God with us…”good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10), now and forever.

Comments (2) Dec 08 2011

December 2, 2011

 Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  Luke 15:4-7

And what, you may be wondering about the title, does the Occupy movement have to do with the national parks?

Bear with me. On Thursday, a group of protestors from Occupy Washington, joined by a group from Occupy Wall Street that had walked from New York, began a march from D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial to King’s gravesite in Atlanta. As I mentioned in a previous post, the memorial is on the National Mall, which is part of the National Park Service (NPS). King’s grave is located at The King Center, which is operated in partnership with NPS’s King National Historic Site.

The march is to mark the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. This led to the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott, a watershed event during the push for civil rights that some compare to the Occupy movement (an Associated Press article notes that King’s children have said their father was planning a poor people’s campaign and occupation before he was assassinated in 1968). Rosa Parks’ act is commemorated at many civil rights historical locales in the NPS.

This piece of news got me thinking about the Occupy slogan, “We Are the 99%,” and the Biblical passage that mentions that percentage. Okay, so the verse I quoted at the beginning doesn’t actually say “99%,” but Jesus is talking about leaving 99 out of 100 sheep to look for the one that was lost, which is the same as saying 99% and 1%, right?

Luke 15 became a favorite of mine years ago when I taught children at church and at a summer program at my house. I used a lesson put out by Child Evangelism Fellowship entitled “Three Lost Things,” based on the trio of missing things mentioned in the chapter’s parables—a sheep, a coin and finally, and perhaps most well known, a son (aka, the Prodigal Son).  Each of them is lost, then found, and then there’s a party! “Rejoice with me,” the shepherd and the woman who misplaced her coin say to their friends and neighbors (vv. 6, 9). Music, dancing, a special feast, and general merriment accompany the son’s return (vv. 22-25). It’s a great lesson to teach because everyone, even kids, understands losing and finding, and everyone loves a party.

The word “lost” or “loses” is mentioned seven times in Luke chapter 15, using a strong Greek verb emphasizing possessiveness, indicating these were not trivial or inconsequential things that had gone missing. The shepherd valued each sheep, the woman treasured her coin, and the son—well, his father saw him coming “while he was still a long way off” (v. 20), so he must have been on the watch for his dissolute but precious boy.

As I’ve mentioned before—and you might already know—a parable is a story about everyday life that illustrates spiritual truth. The stories here are about the incredible worth of one—one sheep, one coin, one son. The truth they present also is about the incredible worth of one—you. And me. And every single person who’s ever existed, is now living, or is yet to be born.

Kind of hard to wrap your mind around the concept that we are all individually prized like that, isn’t it? That God is so interested in us. As King David put it, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (Psalm 139:7).

And because God is so engaged—or, in another way of putting it, preoccupied—with us, He’s always looking for us. Isn’t that something, that the God of the universe should put Himself out for each one of us? The reason He came as God in the flesh, Jesus declared of Himself, was “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

But what about those other sheep, you might be wondering, those 99% who stayed put, who the shepherd left behind to look for the drifter? Why leave all the others to go look for one measly straggler? Isn’t 99% in the hand worth 1% in the bush, so to speak? Why all the fuss over the “bad” sheep?

And what about the upstanding older son who did what was right, while his idiot younger brother went buck wild? Why should the “bad” kid get all the attention? Shouldn’t Mr. Responsible be lauded for his good behavior? He certainly thought so: “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” (vv. 28-30). Talk about favoritism!

Does God, like the Occupy movement says of corporations and the government, care only about the 1%, and not the 99%?

Absolutely not.

Each night, a shepherd counts heads. If one’s missing, he must hunt for it—sheep, unlike other animals, can’t find their way back on their own. But a good shepherd wouldn’t leave the others vulnerable; that would have been a given in the story. Of course he would secured them before he searched for the laggard.

The father of the parable, the embodiment of a loving God, answers his angry offspring with a gentle reminder: “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (vs. 31). It seems one can be a little lost even within the safety and security of the fold, forgetting that what is needed is there for the asking.

This Christmas season, whether you’re a 99% stayer or a 1% strayer, reflect on how much God loves you. He’s written it over and over again in His Word, and demonstrated it by sending His Son when you and I didn’t even deserve it (Romans 5:8). Just like the father sent his servants scurrying to prepare a feast for the admittedly unworthy prodigal (v. 21).

Whether you’ve allowed God to find you, or whether you’re still out there wandering around, mistakenly believing you can find your own way to Him, remember that He’s always on the lookout for you. He’s longing to show you grace, compassion and abundant forgiveness (Isaiah 30:18, 55:7), no matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been.

“We had to celebrate and be glad,” the father explains to his older son, “because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again: he was lost and is found” (v. 32).

What a great reason to party!

Of that, I’m 100% sure.

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Comments (1) Dec 02 2011

November 9, 2011

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13, 14

I’m struck by the string of tragedies in the national parks that have made national news this past year:

–A grizzly bear killed a man hiking with his wife in Yellowstone, the first death from a bear there in 25 years.

–In Yosemite, three people plunged over Vernal Fall  after they crossed a guardrail and wandered too close to the precipice. A woman descending Half Dome slipped during a thunderstorm and fell to her death. Overall, there have 17 fatalities at the park, 6 of them water-related.

–A man fell 300 feet down into the caldera that makes up Oregon’s Crater Lake after he went beyond a park barrier at an overlook and slid partway down toward the lake.

–A woman was swept over Niagara Falls after straddling a railing and losing her balance.

Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we bring trouble on ourselves by disregarding safety precautions, not using common sense or simply by making a mistake. For example, here are the opening paragraphs of this article on Yahoo News, entitled “Half Dome Survivors Wished They Had Taken Heed:”

Armando Castillo knew he should not attempt the last treacherous stretch up Half Dome with storm clouds looming. But he felt he had come too far not to accomplish his goal.

So up the side of the slick, granite monolith he went, 400 vertical feet at nearly a 40 percent grade.

 “About three-quarters of the way up it started hailing,” he said. “There’s a bunch of people and everybody just stops. Some women started crying because it was slippery and pretty scary. Then it cleared up.”

While others turned back, Castillo pushed on up the park’s iconic feature, making him one of Yosemite National Park’s worst nightmares— the increasing number of wilderness neophytes who mistakenly think the government is obligated to save them.

“People are pushing their luck, trying to beat the weather, and their backup plan is to call for a rescue,” said Mark Marschall, project manager for the Half Dome interim permit program. “They’re not understanding what that means. We can’t fly in that kind of weather. They’re on their own.”

 Those hikers were fortunate—they all eventually made it down okay. Nevertheless, they put themselves at risk by ignoring the warnings from the weather and posted signs.

But sometimes problems happen…just because. One minute we’re walking along, minding our own business, and trouble suddenly comes upon us, like the grizzly, which was defending her young. (There are signs noting that bears are in that area of Yosemite, although attacks are rare. Hikers are advised to make noise, travel in groups and carry bear spray, highly effective in warding off attacks.). Or circumstances beyond our control sweep us off our feet, like the rock climber, who was using cables installed to guide people along that particular steep stretch when the storm came up.

Ironically, Timothy Egan, writing in The New York Times, believes that the more national park rangers try to caution visitors about hazardous conditions, the more careless people seem to become. But there’s only so much the rangers can do, he concludes:

There will always be steep cliffs, deep water, and ornery unpredictable animals in that messy part of the national habitat not crossed by climate-controlled malls and processed-food emporiums. If people expect a grizzly bear to be benign, or think a glacier is just another variant of a theme park slide, it’s not the fault of the government when something goes fatally wrong..[I]t’s impossible to safety-proof a national park.

 Life, like nature, is risky and uncertain. In this current economic climate, we’ve seen government bailouts, both here and abroad. The news carries a seemingly endless string of turmoil, wars and other dire reports.

And perhaps your life is in turmoil, not only financially but emotionally, physically and spiritually. Maybe you’ve lost your job or you’re sick, and you feel lost and confused, and you’re finding that government, friends, family and even your own determination to pull yourself up by the bootstraps haven’t shielded you from disaster.

That’s because, ultimately, they never will. When it comes down to it, just like those hikers stuck on Half Dome, we’re all on our own. Certainly there’s a place for government help, and everyone needs the support of loved ones in times of crisis. But steep cliffs, deep water, and ornery unpredictable animals (and people!) will always be a messy part of life, and no organization, person or positive attitude can fully safety-proof us from them.

Now, you might think I’m about to say that God will. Nope. One thing I love about Scripture is that it’s real and down to earth. The Bible doesn’t sugar coat the way things are. “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus bluntly says in John 16:33. Romans 8:35-36 lists some of the possibilities—hardship, persecution, lack of life’s necessities, danger, war.

Ah, but then comes the good part:

But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

If God are for us, who can be against us?…In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us…Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31, 37-39)

No temptation [trial] has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted [tested] beyond what you are able to bear, but with the temptation [trial] will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

God Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I every forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

No, we can’t necessarily expect rescue from life’s problems this side of heaven, but right now and for all our tomorrows, if we have put our trust in God, we can expect Him to supply us the power to bear whatever comes down the trail.

P.S. You can get into the national parks for free this coming weekend, November 11-13, in honor of Veterans Day!

Comments (3) Nov 09 2011

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners.  Isaiah 61:1

I’ve been away from my blog for too long—but I’ve been busy for the cause!

Yes, my sacrifice for the sake of scouting out national parks was to go to Hawaii. Such a hardship. You’ll be reading about the life lessons I learned at the parks there in future posts.

For now, though, I bring you news about an exciting celebration happening tomorrow, Friday, a little closer to home. The Statue of Liberty is celebrating its 125^th anniversary!

Morning festivities include a citizenship ceremony (for a little insight into what that’s like, see the article I wrote for USA Today), music, readings and a “water parade” in New York harbor, all presided over by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. A new “torch webcam” will begin operation, offering bird’s-eye views from Lady Liberty’s torch 24/7. The day ends with a bang—literally—with fireworks, which will be streamed live over the website.

All these events mirror the dedication of the Statue on October 28, 1886, when President Grover Cleveland dedicated “Liberty Enlightening the World,” a gift of friendship from the people of France. A fireworks display topped that day, too, along with a flotilla of ships, and New York City held its first ever ticker tape parade.

I was just reminiscing with a friend about how we celebrated the Statue’s centennial in July, 1986. Joe and I had scored three free tickets to a concert to be held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, right across the harbor from Lady Liberty (she actually is closer to New Jersey than New York; unfortunately, her, uh, backside is to us. No Jersey jokes please…). So the two of us and a friend made our way over there on July 3. I had just found out I was pregnant, which added to the excitement.

What I remember most from that night was that it was very windy, and the organizers had worked out this elaborate but terribly inefficient system of having us concertgoers park far away, and then transporting us by bus to the actual concert site. Needless to say, it was a madhouse afterwards, and we didn’t get home until early morning of the next day.

That evening, Joe thought it would be fun if we went up to the top of the tower at the college where he worked in Jersey City, which would offer a great view of the New York/New Jersey harbor (this is also where he watched the World Trade Center towers burn and collapse years later). We’d be able to see the relighting of the torch, which had just been refurbished, and the accompanying fireworks.

Problem was, the way up there is…a challenge. It involves climbing two vertical ladders, crouching along an attic walkway, and ends in an awkward scramble to the roof. We had invited another couple, who brought along their baby. Hauling him up was quite a feat.

Once we got situated (in chairs that Joe brought up), we quickly became chilly, because it was still very windy, so Joe traipsed back down to the theatre’s costume shop and got us some warmer clothes. We listened to the ceremonies on the radio (which Joe also carried up), and when President Reagan threw the switch for the torch, we oohed and aahed. And boy, did Joe pick a good spot for the fireworks!

Getting back down was downright scary. You have to make a small leap from the roof to the first ladder, and our friends were beside themselves trying to figure out how to do it with their son. Finally, Joe lashed the baby to himself with some of the costume shop clothes, and bounded over to the ladder (he brought him down the second ladder the same way). And did I mention I was six weeks pregnant?

But I digress.

Liberty is an overarching theme in Scripture. The verse I quoted at the beginning describes the ministry of the Messiah in a nutshell, prophesized by Isaiah some 700 years before Jesus’ birth. In the gospel of Luke, the writer relates the story of the day when Jesus entered the synagogue, was handed the book of Isaiah, and read that same passage. “He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:16-20).

Let’s just say that all the good feelings they had for Him before (vv. 15, 22) quickly dissipated (vv. 28, 29). How dare He make that claim!

Ah, but it’s true:

–“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2)

–“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:32, 36)

–“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Don’t believe the lie that Christianity is merely a set of do’s and don’ts, a long list of “thou shalt nots,” of rules and regulations not relevant or applicable to modern times. The problems of yesterday are the problems we still face today—worry, fear, grief, loneliness, trying to figure out what life’s all about—and the Bible addresses them all. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” Jesus tenderly pleads in Matthew 11:28-30. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.

This “perfect law, the law of liberty” (James 1:25, 2:12) is freely available for all who believe in Jesus, God’s Son (John 1:12, 8:31). There are no ladders to climb, nothing to do but take a (yes, sometimes scary) leap of faith. Jesus has already done all the heavy lifting and made provision for every need.

But I promise you (and more importantly, God promises you—2 Peter 1:4, 3:13) that the result is really worth it.

Comments (5) Oct 27 2011

Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:24

What a time it’s been for the East Coast! First an earthquake, then a hurricane!

The Musco household came through unscathed, thankfully. We didn’t have it bad at all, just a lot of rain and later some gusty winds, but we had electricity and no trees toppled over. Some friends and neighbors lost power, some even had to boil their water, and another friend who will have to replace the flooring in her finished basement. Our church got six inches of water in the lower level, but repairs already are being done (a big shout out to Jim!).

I’m grateful because it could have been much worse. My heart goes out to those who have been severely affected.

Both the earthquake and the hurricane impacted the National Park Service. The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial and Old Post Office Tower—all part of the NPS’s National Mall & Memorial Parks in the District of Columbia—were evacuated and temporarily closed on the Tuesday following the temblor (the Washington Monument remains closed while cracks in the uppermost section are assessed and repaired).

Fittingly, I just finished reading Boyd Matson’s column in the July/August issue of National Geographic Traveler about the National Mall. Entitled “Our Favorite National Park: Not Yellowstone, not the Grand Canyon, it’s the National Mall, and it needs help,” the article takes the reader on a quick tour of the Mall, with Mr. Matson marveling that he can walk to a national park of over 700 acres ten blocks away from his office. “I suspect the average American doesn’t think of the heart of the U.S. capital as a national park,” he writes. “Given the contentious political debates that happen in D.C., the city itself seems the antithesis of what a park should be.”

Here’s some of what’s on the Mall:  Constitution Gardens, honoring the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence; many museums; the U.S. Capitol; and several war and presidential memorials (including the four mentioned above).

As you can imagine, the Mall takes a beating. Those huge rallies you see in D.C.? They’re held on the Mall. “The park grounds are looking shabby,” Matson notes. He quotes an estimate from Susan Spain, project executive for the National Mall Plan, of $606 million to $648 million to make improvements and take care of deferred maintenance.

But enough of the bad news. The day before the earthquake, the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial officially opened to the public. Rather than have me describe it to you, check out these photos. The design was inspired by a line from Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech: “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” King is seen emerging from the stone of hope; the two other granite stones behind him symbolize the mountains of despair.

Even thought it’s already open, the memorial’s formal dedication was supposed to have taken place Sunday, August 28, the 48^th anniversary of the March on Washington, when King delivered the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. But Hurricane Irene took care of that. The new date most likely will be later this month or in October. President Obama will speak at the ceremony.

“I have a dream today!” Dr. King said on that long-ago day. “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

As a pastor, Dr. King knew the above passage based on Isaiah 40:4, 5 had to do with Jesus’s second coming, when the world would be restored, perfect justice would be carried out and God’s righteousness fully prevail. But he also realized they pertained to present realities, as he reiterated in this speech he gave in Memphis, Tennessee, five years later, on the night before he was assassinated:

And you know what’s beautiful to me is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel…Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher?…Somehow the preacher must be an Amos…”Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me,” and He’s anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor…It’s all right to talk about “long white robes over yonder,” in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It’s all right to talk about “streets flowing with milk and honey,” but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and His children who can’t eat three square meals a day.”

It’s a challenge, a constant balancing act, to be heavenly-minded and do earthly good. I sometimes despair over injustice in the here and now, the shifting standards that deny universal truth, even the rudeness and lack of civility that’s invaded our society from the top down. Some days I feel like throwing in the towel, giving up the fight to be God’s ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20) in a world that grows more and more hostile to God’s good news.

But I can’t. I want 2 Timothy 4:7 on my headstone: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” And I think Dr. King had that in mind as he concluded his last speech:

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! And so I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

What happened to Dr. King this side of eternity wasn’t the end. Just as Moses got a glimpse of the land God had promised to him and the Israelites, but knew he would never enter (Deuteronomy 34:4), Dr. King could envision a society where all races where considered equal. But he realized even that beyond that, there was coming an even more perfect day, when there would be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4), when God will “render to every man according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12), when “the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one” (Zechariah 14:9). Hebrews 11, that great chapter of the faith, lists many Bible heroes and heroines—name and unnamed—sums it up like this: “All these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised [that is, all that was included in Jesus’s return to earth], because God had provided something better for us…” (vv. 39, 40).

And when that happens, as Dr. King so eloquently concluded at the Lincoln Memorial, “all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

Oh, may that day come soon! And may we be found doing God’s will when it does (Matthew 24:45, 46).

Comments (4) Sep 06 2011

July 21, 2011

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Psalm 19:1

I recently read in Family Circle about two family camps in our national parks that sound great—College of the Atlantic’s Family Nature Camp in Maine, and Camp Denali in Alaska.

Family Nature Camp takes advantage of its location near Acadia National Park to introduce parents and children to the wonders of nature found on the northern Eastern Seaboard, while Denali, as you might guess, tackles the majesty of Denali National Park’s rugged mountains. Each offers a chance to get up close and personal with God’s creative handiwork, yet from different perspectives.

One of Acadia’s most notable mountains is Cadillac, the tallest on the East Coast, and in the fall and winter, the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise (sunsets aren’t too shabby either). Acadia’s peaks, though, can’t hold a candle to Denali’s, where 20,320-foot Mount McKinley—the largest mountain in North America—towers over other lesser but equally impressive peaks in the 600-mile long Alaska Range.

Camp Denali’s September sessions present an opportunity to observe another of the sky’s incredible features: the aurora borealis (also known as northern lights in our hemisphere), a magnificent natural light show caused by the interaction of charged particles with atoms at high altitude (my physics- and astronomy-minded daughter could probably do a better description…). The first time I saw them was as a teenager who had just moved from Florida to Michigan. I pointed at the white streaks in the sky and gasped to my mother, “What’s that??!!” It was only after she laughingly explained, that I could enjoy them and not think the world was ending.

Anyway, at Camp Denali, if the atmospheric conditions cooperate, you can ask to be woken up when the aurora appears so you can not just learn about the phenomenon, you can actually experience it. And just like my mother and me, you’ll enjoy family bonding time!

The earth is full of wonders. I hope you take time to revel in them and share them with others, especially children. We all need a reminder in a world that sometimes seems like it’s run amok that, as one of my favorite hymns so beautifully puts it:

This is my Father’s world,

And to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world:

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world.

O let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!

God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Comments (3) Jul 21 2011