Life Lessons from the National Parks

May 14, 2012

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I made my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.  Psalm 139:7-12

If you live in the western United States, you’ve got quite a treat in store for you on May 20. That’s when the first solar eclipse in this country in nearly two decades will take place.

The eclipse begins over the Pacific Ocean and, from south of the Aleutian Islands, travels at 1,000 mph to California and then on to western Texas before sunset. And some of the best places to see this annular eclipse—one in which all but the outermost rim of the sun is blocked by the moon—are in western national parks. Weather permitting, 154 national parks will provide telescopes for viewing the eclipse, from partial to full annularity (annularity refers to the “bull’s eye” ring of sunlight that remains; more than 95% will be covered in full annularity).

Rangers and astronomers will hold special programs throughout the day on the 20th. The Grand Canyon will have NASA scientists on hand to explain the phenomena, with a “star party” during the evening on the South Rim. For detailed information about events at all the parks, go here (if you want oodles of information about eclipses in general, check out NASA’s eclipse web site).

Of course, any viewing must be done safely, using special solar glasses or other eye protection, because the sun won’t be fully blocked out and it’s very dangerous to look directly at it with the naked eye or even through a camera viewfinder. Solar viewing cards will be sold for $1 at all park bookstores (while supplies last).

Note to my brothers (one of whom, coincidentally, has a birthday on May 20): I’m sure you remember how freaked out you made me when we moved to another house during a partial solar eclipse when we were kids. You had me scared to death that I would go blind if I so much as looked anywhere but at the ground. I hope you’re happy that you scarred me for life…

I’m not the only one who’s ever been terrified by a solar eclipse. Before people could explain it scientifically, many thought it was a bad omen, perhaps a sign the world was coming to an end. And can you blame them? It is pretty scary when the sun disappears like that, without warning.

Darkness, especially sudden or unexpected darkness, is frightening. Fortunately, we have a God to whom darkness is as light, who holds our hand through dark days and fearful times when we don’t know what’s happening.

“For You are my lamp, O Lord,” David affirmed in 2 Samuel 22:29. “You illumine my darkness.”

Comments (1) May 14 2012

May 3, 2012

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son.           Hebrews 1:1, 2

Perhaps you caught a small news item in the papers a couple of months ago, concerning a startling discovery at New Jersey’s Thomas Edison National Historical Park (NHP).

When the Edison home and laboratory in West Orange were donated to the National Park Service in 1957, a quick inventory showed a wooden box with brown wax cylinders in it. Two words were scratched on the wood: “Edison” and “Wangemann.”

Thomas Edison developed the phonograph in the 1870s, as a result of his work on two other inventions, the telegraph and telephone. At first he used paper wrapped around a cylinder to record sounds; later he tried tin foil and then finally wax. Cylinders had many problems—they were fragile, could only record 2-4 minutes of material, and couldn’t be mass-produced. They continued to be used until the late 1920s, as superior disc recordings—which had been introduced in the early part of the 20^th century—gained popularity (read the full history here).

When Jerry Fabris became curator of the sound recording collection at the Edison museum in 1994, he began the long process of cataloging all 39,000 phonograph recordings—wax and disc—in the collection. He finally got around to the intriguing box in 2005, but didn’t have what he needed to convert into digital files the sounds from the dozen cylinders in the box that weren’t too badly broken.  In 2010 the Friends of the Thomas Edison NHP purchased the equipment and consultant services to do so.

When Fabris heard German, he thought he might have something important.

In 1889, Thomas Edison had sent Theo Wangemann to showcase Edison Phonograph Works machines at the Paris World’s Fair. While there Wangemann recorded, among other things, Johannes Brahms playing the piano (unfortunately, that cylinder was worn out before it could be copied).

Then Wangemann went on to his native Germany. But the recordings from that trip had been thought lost. Until Fabris uncovered them.

It took two years and two additional consultants before the voices on the cylinder were identified: Helmuth von Moltke, aide-de-camp to Kaiser Wilhelm and later chief of staff for the Prussian Army, and German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

It wasn’t what they said that was so electrifying—Moltke read Shakespeare and other literature, while Bismarck recited songs and implored his son to live morally and moderately. It was the fact that the recording is believed to the only one of a person born in the 18^th century (Bismarck).

“In the 18^th century, the human voice was described as one of the most noble capacities of human beings,” writes Stephan Puille, the German researcher who identified Bismarck’s voice, in an email quoted in an Associated Press article. “Bismarck is no longer mute. I think his voice allows a new access to him.” An essay written by Puille about the Moltke/Bismarck recording is found here, and includes a link to the digital transcription.

It’s easy to understand why the researchers were excited to make this discovery—how amazing to be able to hear famous voices from 120 years ago!  But you know what’s even more wonderful? We have the voice of God—who’s existed from eternity past—every day! We have it written down in the Bible—the word of God, instructions from His voice for all to read, understand and follow. “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach…But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it” (Deuteronomy 30:8, 10-14).

And while Moltke and Bismarck don’t say anything earth-shattering, God does. He shows His power, glory and yes, fury, through His thundering voice (Psalm 18:13-15, 29:3-7), and His comfort, strength and gentleness through a whisper (1 Kings 19:11, 12). At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus (described as the Word in human form—John 1:1, 14) was introduced by God as One with equal voice—“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5)—who too would proclaim truth (John 18:37). Jesus healed merely by speaking (Matthew 8:8:5-13), and commanded the wind and rain to cease with just a few words (Mark 4:36-39).

The Holy Spirit left behind after Jesus’s death and resurrection continues that ministry of communication  (John 16:13). And we can look forward to the day when “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17), “when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live” (John 5:25).

Do you hear that voice speaking to you? I guarantee you it is. Oh, I’m not going to go all woo-woo on you, and tell you that He necessarily speaks audibly. But you’ll know the Good Shepherd’s call, because He makes it plain (John 10:1-11). And what He says will reach down into the deepest depths of your soul (Hebrews 4:12).

Of course, you can stop up your ears and refuse to hear or believe (John 8:45). The children of Israel challenged God’s authority and rebelled, and failed to enter the land He had promised them and instead died in the wilderness (Psalm 95:7-11, Hebrews 3:7-11, Numbers 14-21). A more dire fate awaits those who ignore God’s compelling voice—eternal separation from Him (Luke 16:19-31). “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking,” the writer of Hebrews solemnly concludes. “For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25).

As the German researcher noted, those long-ago historical voices are no longer mute, and are now accessible. It’s great that they were able to be captured off those brittle cylinders so now everyone can hear them via Internet.

But God’s never been silent, as the first verse of Hebrews notes. He’s always been available (Psalm 145:18, James 4:8), for the whole world (John 3:16). And He and His Word live forever (Psalm 9:7, Isaiah 40:8, Daniel 7:14, Hebrews 13:8).

All we have to do is listen.

Comments (0) May 04 2012

April 25, 2012

The very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Matthew 10:30

The statistics on national park visitation in 2011 are out. They show that among the National Park Service units (all 397 of them), the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia was the most visited. A close second is on the opposite coast, California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Of the 58 units designated as National Parks, Great Smoky Mountains is number one; Grand Canyon is in second place, with nearly 5 million less visitors. An exhaustive list of the numbers for each unit, searchable by location, name and ranking, can be found here.

Behind these figures is recent data showing that “the average visitor to some of the nation’s parks and wilderness areas is getting grayer,” according to an article in USA Today. It’s a worrisome trend. “Without ‘a generation of kids who have had good experiences with national parks, then in a very short amount of time, we may not have enough people who care about [them] to keep them going,’ says John Hayes of the Dunes Learning Center at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.”

Reaching out to young people in a variety of ways is a priority of the Park Service. Disney is even getting in on the act, awarding the National Park Foundation $500,000 to help connect kids and families to nature through the parks. The money will go specifically to the foundation’s “Ticket to Ride” and “America’s Best Idea” programs, which provide transportation to and support community projects in the parks.

As you might know, there’s a book in the Bible called Numbers. It’s part of the Pentateuch, or Torah, the first five books of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. The Hebrew title is taken from its first verse, and means “in the wilderness,” because most of Numbers records the history of the Israelites in the forty years of wandering in the Sinai wilderness. The Greek translation of the Old Testament entitles the book Numbers, because of the prominence of census figures (in chapters 1-3 and 26). Numbers also contains a well-known and beautiful blessing: “The Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace” (6:24-26).

Numbers was written at the same time as the book of Exodus, with the same author—Moses. It was he who brought the Hebrews out of Egypt after 430 years of bondage (Exodus 3-14), planning to lead them to the land God had set aside for them (Exodus 3:8, Genesis 13:14-17).

Unfortunately, once they crossed the Red Sea into the desert region between Egypt and Palestine, they forsook gratitude and began complaining. “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you [Moses] have brought us out into this wilderness to kill us” (Exodus 16:3). They forgot that the God who miraculously made a way for them to escape slavery was more than able to provide them with food, water and anything else they needed as they traveled toward the Promised Land.

Things got so bad that finally the Lord decreed, “Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to you…Your children, however…I will bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they shall suffer for your unfaithfulness” (Numbers 14:30-33).  Only two men who remained faithful—Caleb and Joshua—survived to enter the land.

Life holds plenty of wildernesses, but God has vowed He will help us through them (John 16:33). “Be strong and courageous,” Moses encouraged the people, “do not be afraid or tremble, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). That same message is repeated over and over again throughout Scripture (Joshua 11:6-9, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Hebrews 13:5, among other verses).

The God who knows us so well that He keeps track of every hair on our head is certainly big enough to handle anything that happens to us.

I’m “counting” on that!

Comments (1) Apr 25 2012

April 17, 2012

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Isaiah 55:1-3

Good news for all you iphone, ipod touch and ipad users who love the national parks—the Passport to Your National Parks app is now here! (Sorry Android users—you’ll have to wait a bit.)

The app contains a database of all 397 units of the National Park Service, which you can search by name, state or region. Each listing provides addresses, phone numbers, maps, directions, entrance fee information, upcoming events and a brief description. A GPS function locates a site within 50 to 250 miles of your location. And it’s also interactive: you can digitally log your visits to each park and make lists of ones you want to visit in the future, and even add photos.

Best of all—it’s free! Just go to the itunes store and download it.

And here’s more freebies: the app developing company Chimani will once again give away its national park apps in celebration of National Park Week April 21-29. And they are for Apple and Android operating systems. The apps normally sell for $4.99-$9.99, so this is a terrific bargain. Last year, when the company began the giveaway program, over 100,000 apps were downloaded; this year it hopes to top the million mark, so go for it!

Among the Chimani apps are Acadia, Cuyahoga Valley, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion National Parks; as well as Cape Cod National Seashore and the general National Park app, which the company calls “a virtual passport for tracking visits to all national parks.” Each app’s information is constantly updated, with maps, shuttle bus schedules (no cost to ride!), restroom locations, auto touring points of interest, hiking guides, sunrise and sunset times for the most memorable scenic overlooks, tide schedules, lodging options, and more. The Android version is available from Google Play; the Apple versions, again, from itunes.

Two other freebies I’ve found online are from MapQuest National Parks and Conde Nast Traveler. Both feature a series of beautiful photography and/or videos of the parks, accessible from the comfort of your desktop.

Oh, and the final piece of news? National Park Week means entrance to all the Park Service locations are free April 21-29! So you can put all those apps to good use! But even if you don’t have any of these devices, you can still have a great time at no cost.

Have I mentioned that all these things are free? Well, some at least for a limited time only…

I love a bargain. Even better, I love getting stuff for free. To me, the ultimate freebie is freedom from sin and guilt through the death and resurrection of God’s Son Jesus. That freedom—salvation, eternal life—is a free gift (Romans 6:23), a gracious present from God we did nothing to deserve and can’t earn (Ephesians 2:8, 9), and available to everyone anytime, anywhere (John 3:16, 6:37; 2 Peter 3:9).

Putting it in app terms—we can download Jesus for free!

Comments (1) Apr 17 2012

April 4, 2012

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.  Genesis 49:10

This week is the 150^th anniversary of the battle of Shiloh, fought in Tennessee on April 6 and 7, 1862.

Shiloh National Military Park commemorates this Civil War engagement with a slew of activities: caravan tours, which take visitors to important points along the battlefield; in-depth hikes to follow the movement of the troops; the debut of a new interpretive film, “Fiery Trail;” and a Grand Illumination, scheduled from dusk to 10 p.m. on April 7, with about 24,000 luminaries placed around the battlefield, each representing casualties from the battle (see details on these events here).

That number of men killed, wounded or missing in just this one battle is more than America had suffered in all previous wars. My cousin Sue sent me this link to a group of Civil War photos from The Atlantic magazine, and while there aren’t any photos of Shiloh among them, they’re a solemn reminder of the war’s devastation.

Side note: Fort Pulaski National Monument near Savannah, Georgia is also commemorating the 150^th anniversary of its Civil War battle. Activities will be held April 10-15, and include a special boat tour. And the National Park Service has a website devoted exclusively to the Civil War, since its sesquicentennial runs through 2015. It’s information about the war all in one place—history, battlefield locations, events calendar, and even a soldiers and sailors database.

But back to Shiloh. In the Bible, Shiloh is the place where the Israelites first set up the tent of meeting, the tabernacle (Joshua 18:1). Within the tabernacle was, among other things, the Ark of the Covenant, which held the tablets of the Law—the covenant—given to Moses by God. Those tablets had been sprinkled with the blood of young bulls as a peace offering, a kind of ritual ratification of the agreement between God and the people (Exodus 24:5, 6; Hebrews 9:18-21).

Exodus chapters 25 through 31 detail God’s instructions for the tabernacle’s construction and contents, while chapters 35 through 40 describe how the people carried them out. After all was done, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). So when the tabernacle was set up in Shiloh, that city became the religious center of the nation, where God’s presence and power resided.

Shiloh means peace, and indeed many visitors find the Shiloh battlefield a very peaceful place. The National Park Service calls it one of the Civil War’s most pristine battlefields. But on those long ago April days, it was anything but peaceful.

Easter is a nice holiday in our culture. The weather usually is balmy, full of hope for warmer weather to come. Cute bunnies and chicks, bright springtime colors and lots of chocolate predominate.

But the getting to the first Easter wasn’t any prettier than the road to Shiloh was.

This week leading up to Easter, we reflect on the real reason for the season, Jesus’ sacrifice and death. Reading the accounts of His trial and especially His crucifixion at the end of the Gospels (the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) do not paint a rosy picture. Jesus was whipped, spit upon, mocked and nailed to a cross to die an agonizing death. Like those young bulls whose blood sealed the covenant in the tabernacle, Jesus’ blood sealed the new covenant (Matthew 26:28). As Charles Ryrie puts it in his Study Bible’s Introduction to the New Testament, “The Old Covenant revealed the holiness of God in the righteous standard of the Law and promised a coming Redeemer; the New Covenant shows the holiness of God in His righteous Son.”  Jesus came “to minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man…Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

620,000 people gave up their lives during the Civil War. That was the price of conserving the Union, of making peace. But it took just one Man to bring us our Shiloh, to take on the punishment for all our sins, be our Prince of Peace (Romans 5:12-19, 1 John 2:2, 1 Corinthians 15:21, Isaiah 9:6), the One whom Scripture pointed to from the opening book of Genesis.

Something to celebrate not only at Easter, but all year ‘round!

Comments (1) Apr 04 2012

March 23, 2012

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.  1 Corinthians 10:23

You will no longer be able to buy the John Wilkes Booth bobblehead doll at Gettysburg National Military Park’s gift shop, according to a Los Angeles Times article.

The 7-inch tall figure comes complete with a handgun, in a box that resembles the inside of Ford’s Theatre, where Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The company that manufacturers it is now calling the doll “the most controversial bobblehead in history,” and “the most popular bobblehead on the market today.”

In response to the uproar over the figure, company owner Rick Lynn said, “The consensus of opinion appears to be one of being ‘Rude, Crude and Socially Unacceptable.’ ”

He goes on to say that the Lincoln Memorial bobblehead the company also sells is rendered all in white, “more ethereal almost god like in appearance a figure to be revered,” in his words. “Booth, on the other hand is portrayed with hunched shoulders, scowling, clutching his weapon…The concept of good and evil is obvious and easily understood.”

Lynn then notes that the Yale Law Museum declared his company’s Supreme Court justice bobbleheads to be “historic artifacts,” a “big deal” in the museum world (is he saying that the Booth bobblehead should also be considered a historic artifact?). He tells people to “move on” if they find his work offensive, and perhaps purchase a couple and “dispose of them in whatever manner you deem appropriate.” Or, buy a case and invite friends over to burn them.

(Notice his answer to your offense is not for you to ignore them, but to buy them. Spoken like a true businessman!)

I have a quirky sense of humor, and can understand why some people would view the Booth bobblehead as amusingly offbeat. But would I get one? No. It’s too dark for me. I don’t like guns nor the reminder of violence.

And I’m glad Gettyburg pulled it off its shelves. The Pennsylvania site is a place of solemn reflection, where Lincoln gave his best-known speech, a moving tribute to those who fought and died on the battlefield and a stirring call for a “new birth of freedom” in our nation. For the park to market an object associated with Lincoln’s tragic death just seems…wrong.

Yet…Rick Lynn’s company certainly has the right to make the Booth bobblehead. And stores have the right to sell it.

In the passage I quoted at the beginning, the apostle Paul is speaking specifically to the Corinthians about their freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols. If you’re at dinner at the house of unbelievers, eat whatever is put in front of you with a clear conscience. But, he cautions, if you discover that the meat has been sacrificed to idols and might offend others, then don’t eat it voluntarily, for their sake. The bottom line: “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (vv. 27-31).

Is a practice beneficial to others? Is it constructive? Does it honor God? While those might not be the guiding principles for the business world, they are in the Christian life.

Now let us all nod our heads in agreement like bobbleheads…

Comments (1) Mar 26 2012

March 16, 2012

For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!   Song of Solomon 2:11-13

Is any time of year more delightful than the first hint of spring?

By now, most of us have tasted a bit of warmth, and seen early flowers poking their way up out of the ground. Spring blooms, with their vibrant colors, are such a pleasure after a barren winter!

For me, the greatest harbingers of spring are cherry blossoms. And yes, the cherry trees planted around the White House and the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. are part of the National Park Service: the National Mall and Memorial Parks’ Cherry Blossom Festival comes under its jurisdiction. The peak bloom dates are usually later, but thanks to warmer temperatures, the trees are beginning to flower already, so prime viewing is now March 20-23. National Park Service activities are scheduled for March 24-April 15, and its partner, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, has activities throughout Washington March 20-April 27.

This is the centennial of the first planting of the trees, a gift of friendship from the people of Japan. The first batch of 2,000 arrived in 1910, but were  infested with insects and had to be burned. In 1912, 3,020 cherry trees in twelve varieties arrived, bug-free, and First Lady Helen Taft and the wife of the Japanese ambassador ceremonially planted two of them on the Tidal Basin’s northern bank. They still stand there today, several hundred yards west of the John Paul Jones Memorial, near 17^th Street, S.W., and marked with a plaque. You can read the entire story here.

(I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Newark, New Jersey’s massive collection of cherry trees in Branch Brook Park. They bloom in mid- to late April, and the park’s Cherry Blossom Festival is very popular. When Mimi was a baby, I pushed her in her stroller every year among the beautiful blossoms. And I’m proud to say that Joe and I added to the over 4,000 trees a few years ago by having one planted in memory of his mother.)

Cherry blossoms don’t last long, unfortunately. One minute they’re buds, the next moment they’ve popped in a gorgeous array of pink and white petals, then suddenly they’re littering the ground like snow. No wonder frequent updates are issued as blooming time nears, so we can catch them at their peak!

And no wonder the Japanese believe the delicate blossoms symbolize the beauty and brevity of life. Wasn’t it just yesterday I was a kid, we ask ourselves. Where did the time go?  Moses pondered this as well. “The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength,” he wrote in Psalm 90:10. “They quickly pass, and we fly away.”

Cherry trees, like trees everywhere, must be meticulously maintained and carefully pruned in order to flourish and thrive. So do we. You just can’t achieve the latter without the former. Fortunately, we humans have a Master Gardener who longs to tend to us so that His joy may be in us and our joy may be full (John 15:11). But unlike the short-lived cherry blossoms, our blooming is life-long and eternal (Psalm 16:11).

“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!” King Solomon adjured his bride, calling her to join him outside as a gorgeous spring day beckoned.

It’s an echo of God’s voice, calling us to delight in His company, not just for a season, but every day of the year.

Comments (1) Mar 16 2012

March 8, 2012

The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.  Habakkuk 2:20

In my last post, I mentioned Haleakala’s awesome sights. Today I want to mention this national park’s other outstanding feature—silence.

In the Smithsonian article I referenced, the author opens the piece musing on the park’s solitude:

Entering Haleakala Crater, the enormous mouth of Maui’s largest volcano, in the Hawaiian Islands, feels like an exercise in sensory deprivation. At the crater floor, a desolate expanse of twisted, dried lava reached after a two-hour hike down a trail carved into its wall, the silence is absolute. Not a breath of wind. No passing insects. No bird songs. Then I thought I detected drumming. Was it the ghostly echo of some ancient ritual? No, I finally realized, it was my own heartbeat, thundering in my ears.

In 2008, National park Service acoustic experts found that the ambient sound levels within Haleakala crater were near the very threshold of human hearing.

 Wow!

Silence can be maddening or creepy, or it can be soothing. “If you spend any time at all inside Haleakala,” notes Kiope Raymond, associate professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii Maui College, in the article, “you will be overcome by what Mark Twain called its ‘healing solitudes.’ It induces tranquility and encourages reflection.”

I too discovered that at Haleakala. While I didn’t go down into the crater, as I stood atop the summit, I was filled with the majesty and power of God in this awesome and quiet place. Really, it was too much to take in. All I could do was experience a mere hint of those qualities. Definitely a “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) moment.

We all need quiet in this noisy world. But we can’t live forever on a mountaintop or in a valley with only God and ourselves for company, so we need to find it whenever and wherever we find ourselves. And God promises to provide that rest and peace, those “healing solitudes” we crave, even in the midst of chaos.

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28, 29

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

Lasting peace isn’t found in a place, but in a Person. I pray we all will be able to enjoy special spots of quiet in our travels, but more importantly, that we’ll be able to revel in the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding,” (Philippians 4:7) wherever we are, provided freely for the asking by the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) Himself.

He not only lives in Haleakala, but right beside us.

Comments (4) Mar 08 2012

February 3, 2012

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.  Psalm 33:8

I was glad to see an article on Haleakala in the December 2011 issue of Smithsonian magazine. It’s a great piece on the magnificence of this Hawaiian national park.

Around one million people visit Haleakala annually, and many ascend its 10,023-foot summit, as Joe, Mimi and I did this past September. We walked along the rocky path, peering down into the lava-carved and –strewn field below. The Smithsonian article notes that the writer Jack London, during a 1907 visit, called it “a workshop of nature still cluttered with the raw beginnings of world-making,” a very apt description.

Haleakala is Hawaii’s largest volcano, now dormant, taking up three-quarters of the island of Maui. It was created not by an eruption, but by two valleys merging. The three of us didn’t descend down into the ochre and ash-colored depression—we thought about it, but realized it would be a long hike (the crater covers 19 square miles). And the only public shelters along the paths are three redwood cabins, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression.

Haleakala means “House of the Sun” in the Hawaiian language, and many visitors go to the summit at dawn to see if it lives up to its name. In 1866, Mark Twain called the Haleakala’s sunrise “the sublimest spectacle I ever witnessed.”

We’re not morning people (or, I should say, Mimi and I are not), so we went up in late afternoon, figuring sunset might put on a pretty good show as well.

We were not disappointed. The sinking sun threw shadows thoughout the crater, and we watched them grow and change as time moved on. On the other side, fantastic sun rays, first fiery then more muted, shot out over the Pacific Ocean.

We could have stood there forever drinking in the spectacular show, except we realized it might be hard to pick our way back along the path to our car if we waited too long.

Joe took many photos of the scene. If you keep refreshing this page, you’ll see a few of them. And check out the Smithsonian’s photos—they’re terrific!

Not surprisingly, Halekala’s summit was the site of many ancient Hawaiian ceremonies. Today, Hawaiians still use some of the ruins of these places for a variety of rituals—seasonal celebrations, and worship of different deities. Pele, the goddess of fire, and Maui, a lesser god, remain part of Hawaiian lore and culture.

One rite still practiced on Haleakala, says Kiope Raymond, associate professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii Maui College (and a native Hawaiian), is the burial of the umbilical cords of newborns alongside the bones of family ancestors. “As with many Native American people, the bones of the dead are [considered] respositories of spiritual energy, or mana, and are revered by native Hawaiians,” he notes in the article.

Haleakala is a beautiful, awe-inspiring place. Hundreds of words could be used to describe it and still not come close to fully conveying its splendor.  But—and I mean no disrespect to Hawaiian culture—its majesty and power are not from anything interred there. Rather, they come from the awesome, living God of gods and Lord of lords (Deuteronomy 10:17), who fashioned Haleakala, and whose eternal power and divine nature reside in and testify to all He’s created (Romans 1:20).

As the saying goes, happiness is seeing a sunrise (or sunset) and really knowing Who to thank.

Comments (1) Feb 03 2012

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