Life Lessons from the National Parks

September 6, 2010

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1,2

Hard to believe, but the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks is this week.

The Pentagon Memorial is completed, and work at the World Trade Center is ongoing. At the only site tied to the terrorist attacks of 2001 administered by the National Park Service (NPS), the Flight 93 National Memorial, the first phase of construction is underway (and a temporary visitor center recently opened). Michelle Obama and former First Lady Laura Bush will be the keynote speakers at anniversary observances there Saturday.

The NPS website details the future components of the memorial, which is described as “a common field one day, a field of honor forever:”

–the Tower of Voices, 40 large wind chimes to evoke the sound of the wind and the 40 voices of the passengers and crew aboard the plane during its final moments;

–the Field of Honor, the circular heart of the park;

–the Entry Portal to the field, approached through a clearing of 40 red and sugar maple trees marking the plane’s flight path;

–the Sacred Ground, where Flight 93 crashed, able to be viewed by the public but accessible only to family members of the passengers and crew.

As visitors approach the Sacred Ground, they will have to go across ponds, an area called a “healing landscape,” since the water will be full of aquatic life. I like the idea of incorporating the concept of healing into the design.

And isn’t that we all crave, solace for our pain and grief? We search for it in good ways—at memorials and graveyards, through journaling, prayer and therapy—but also in unhealthy behaviors, like overeating, denial and unforgiveness. The thing is, each one of them, good or bad, is only temporary.

I certainly hope visitors and especially surviving family members and friends affected by the September 11 attacks find a measure of comfort at the memorials, especially on this anniversary weekend.  But my prayer is that all of us look first to God the Healer (Exodus 15:26) who alone can fulfill His promise to completely do away with our tears and mourning (Revelation 21:4).

Oh, what a great day that will be!

It will be worth it all
When we see Jesus,
Life’s trials will seem so small
When we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face
All sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race
‘Til we see Christ.
–When We See Christ (Esther Kerr Rusthoi)

Comments (4) Sep 07 2010

August 30, 2010

Now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

America is still struggling through economic woes for sure, but I see some hopeful signs of recovery, both nationally and personally. In the past few months, two people I know have gotten jobs after looking for a long time—one of them is my daughter (yay!).

Friday’s New York Times ran an article about how vacation travel is rebounding, but with an emphasis on frugality. That’s good news for the National Park Service (NPS), which expects about 285 million visitors this year. Already, the number of tourists at big parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite and Death Valley exceeds last year’s totals. The Times piece quotes an NPS spokesman as saying, “We usually see an uptick in visitation when times are tough.”

That phrase made me wonder if church attendance had gone up as well, and according to a Gallup poll, it has “inched up” so far in 2010. But the organization adds this caveat:

There has been well-publicized speculation about the possibility that church attendance has risen over the past two years as Americans became more despondent and worried as a result of the economic recession. However, trends in Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, an ongoing measure of perceived economic confidence, reflect just the opposite pattern, with both church attendance and economic confidence increasing from 2008 to 2009, and now into 2010.

Such correlations do not prove causality, and it is possible that despite the more positive economic confidence, other economic realities such as unemployment could be related to the increase in church attendance. Still, these particular population-level data do little to directly support the theory that people seek out the solace of religion, as measured in religious service participation, when economic times turn tough.

So what does it take for us to turn to God? The first thing is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that is, as Charles Ryrie explains it in his study Bible, “to set forth the truth of the Gospel in such a clear light that [people] are able to accept or reject it intelligently; i.e., to convince [them] of the truthfulness of the Gospel. The Spirit will help break down the indifference of the typical pagan who has no conviction of sin, who holds a low regard for righteousness, and who pays no heed to warnings of the coming judgment” (from John 16:8-11).

As Ryrie notes, we are free to accept or reject this truth; however, the middle ground—indifference—is a more typical response among unbelievers. The apostle Peter warns of this attitude: “’Where is the promise of His coming? [they say] Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed [and] by the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of [the] ungodly” (2 Peter 3:4-7). In other words, God’s work in creation is proof enough that He does what He says He will do.

But still there are those who will say, “Okay, okay, I get it. But I’ll think about it later.” Have you ever heard the Winans’ song, “Tomorrow” (not the one from the musical Annie)? If you’re not familiar with it, please listen to them sing it on youtube.

No, tomorrow is not promised, as the song concludes.

What God does promise is today, and eternity (Hebrews 13:6, John 3:16).

If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior and as Lord of your life, better choose the Lord today.

For tomorrow very well might be too late.

Comments (2) Sep 01 2010

February 8, 2010

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:25-27

The Winter Olympics begin this week!

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be watching at least some of the competition. I usually try to see the opening and closing ceremonies, because they’re so spectacular, and I’ll try to catch some of my favorite sports, especially ice skating (spoken like a real girl, I know).

Competition and comparison have been on my mind constantly since I joined a gym in January. It’s been a while since I’ve been in an exercise class, and I’d forgotten how easily they draw me into the comparison trap. I tend to gravitate to a spot in the back of the room in these classes, which means I get to see all the people in front of me who seem to kick higher, have more endurance and better looking hair than me (yeah, I’m that shallow…). I always have to remind myself that I’m not competing with any of them—the only one I’m battling is me, to get myself stronger, build up my endurance and keep extra pounds off of me (I’ve just about given up on the hair…)

And just how does this relate to the national parks? The papers have been full of reports of the administration’s proposed 2011 budget, which freezes funding for most domestic programs–including the National Park Service, as specifically noted by The New York Times–at current levels for three years. Kurt Repanshek discusses this issue in another thoughtful National Park Traveler posting, as he wonders whether the momentum gained from Ken Burns’ national park television series and the subsequent leap in park attendance for 2009 will all be for nothing due to lack of money.

Then I read a Frommer’s newsletter with a quote from Mr. Burns, in answer to a question about whether each American should purchase a park pass every season. “I think it’s essential to the survival of the country that people use and exercise their parks,” he said. “Like anything that doesn’t get exercise, it has a tendency to atrophy. We want people to go out and see their property. You own the grandest canyon in the world. All you have to do is go out and visit it.”

I suspect Mr. Burns would agree that flat funding for the National Park Service is not a good thing. But I also think he feels that regardless of what Congress does, and despite what little control we individuals may have in setting our nation’s budget, citizens must act on their own. And that means visiting the parks. We’ve got to use ‘em or lose ‘em.

That’s the exact same message about the Christian life the apostle Paul is trying to get across in the above verse. We can’t control everything that goes on in the race of life.  What each one of us can do, however, is exercise our spiritual muscles, day in and day out, to enable us to reach the prize of eternal life.

At the end of the gospel of John, after His resurrection and before He goes back to heaven,  Jesus urges Peter to continue on in his ministry, hinting that his life might not have a real happy ending. Peter looks over at John (who sometimes describes himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”–John 21:20. What’s up with that??) and asks, “Lord, what about him?” (John 21:21). Meaning, “Hey, no suffering for him? Is he going to get off scot free?” (which he doesn’t, as we find out in Revelation 1:9). But Jesus will have none of that comparison nonsense: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me!” (John 21:22).

That says to me that I can’t be sizing myself up in regard to other believers who know more Scripture, who seem to sail through crises with the greatest of ease and who God appears to favor perhaps a little more than me.  Just as comparing myself to fellow exercisers is no help at all to my physical development, so too matching up my spiritual life against everybody else’s gets me nowhere. I need to be about running my own race, and not so much checking out the position of the rest of the team.

I hope you’ll enjoy the Olympics. I urge you to do what you can to stay fit.  You know I also want you to think about spending your vacation in a national park. But above all, I pray that your first priority is keeping your soul in good shape.

Comments (2) Feb 08 2010

November 30, 2009

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty…And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place… 2 Peter 1:16, 19

The National Park Service acquired a new leader this fall. Jon Jarvis is a long-time NPS employee who was most recently director of the agency’s Pacific West regional office.

In a Frommer’s travel website article, author Kurt Repanshek quotes from an email Mr. Jarvis sent out the day after he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, highlighting his priorities. The director hopes to concentrate on four areas during his tenure—strengthening the Park Service’s workforce, expanding the parks’ educational mission, improving the stewardship of resources, and making the agency relevant to today.

About the latter, Mr. Jarvis said, “There is deep concern out there that national parks will become irrelevant to a society that is disconnected from nature and history. We need to help all Americans—especially young people—discover a personal connection to their national parks…”

I couldn’t agree more. We surely do need to make sure subsequent generations value, care for and use the national parks.

But there’s another disconnect that worries me even more. That’s the one between our society and Scripture, particularly in younger generations.

The website HowStuffWorks still lists the Bible as the number one best seller of all time, as of 2007. Guess what’s in second place? Chairman Mao’s little red book. Also included in the top twenty-one tomes are the Qur’an, The Book of Mormon, The Da Vinci Code, the Harry Potter books, an Agatha Christie title and, bizarrely, The Mark of Zorro!

Many of these tomes are worthwhile reads. I enjoy a Christie mystery, and I watched Zorro on television as a young child (my mother used a lot of Old English on the Zs my brothers and I would carve on the furniture!). And there is certainly nothing wrong with familiarizing yourself with other religions and philosophies.

But the prevailing attitude I catch in today’s society is that all these other books are somehow more relevant than the Bible.

But what could be more timeless than a love letter? For that is what the Word of God is, the story of the One who not only created us, but continually reaches out to draw us closer. The chronicles of real people He includes battle problems as common today as they were long ago: fear (Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20), uncertainty (Gideon, Judges 6), sexual temptation (David, 2 Samuel 11 and 12), the search for wisdom (Solomon, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), and injustice (Joseph, Genesis 37-50), to mention just a few. And they are backed up by historical facts and records, not easily dismissed as “cleverly devised tales,” as some down through the ages would have us believe.

The great writer and Christian apologetic G. K. Chesterton, in his book What’s Wrong with the World (published in 1910—see, even back then people despaired of humanity!), wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried” (p. 48).

And that’s the disconnect in a nutshell: it’s much easier to give a mere tip of the hat to God’s stipulations on how we are to live, than to invest the time and discipline to follow them; less demanding and much more comfortable to cobble together our own system of shifting truth and values, than to abide by someone else’s unchangeable truth, no matter who He claims He is. Especially when the world doesn’t encourage you to do so.

We can’t fully appreciate and enjoy the parks unless we spend time in them, exploring their paths and learning their history. Only then can we understand their enduring relevancy.

The same is true of our relationship with God. If there’s one thing I’d like to impress upon every teen and young adult, it’s this: Scripture has stood the test of time. It’s the only path to a personal connection that’s guaranteed to last into eternity.

I’ve tried it, and I’ve never found it wanting.

Comments (0) Dec 02 2009

November 2, 2009

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight… others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated…wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. Hebrews 11:32-34, 36-37

This Saturday, November 7, will be a special day in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Seven years after Congress authorized its creation, the Flight 93 National Memorial will finally break ground.

This site will overlook where United Flight 93 plunged into a remote field on September 11, 2001, while its passengers and crew fought to resist a terrorist attack on our nation’s capital. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar heads the delegation of elected officials, relatives of those who died, first responders and National Park Service representatives who will gather for the solemn occasion.

What took so long, you might ask? Well, as a National Parks Traveler post notes, there were all kinds of problems getting to groundbreaking day. The severely criticized master design had to be reworked. Fundraising is still $20 million short of its goal. Land acquisition hit many snags. September 11, 2011—the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks—is the memorial’s hoped-for Dedication Day.

Family members at Saturday’s event will undoubtedly be flooded with both comforting and difficult memories. Speeches about the bravery of the forty people on board Flight 93 will most likely be included. They will be called heroes, and rightly so.

When I think of heroes, I’m always reminded of the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. An interesting exercise is to read through the entire chapter, then go back in the Old Testament and read about each person and episode cited. But beginning at verse 32, the details change, and no more specific names and stories are mentioned. As The Wycliffe Bible Commentary puts it:

The writer [the author of the book of Hebrews remains uncertain] resorts to piling
up examples, because of the impossibility of taking each case separately. The list
is impressive including some of the Judges, the greatest of Israel’s kings–David,
and one of her greatest prophets–Samuel.
The list of deeds is equally impressive. In some cases the incidents referred to are
well known; in others they are more obscure. In each instance, however, something
typical of those who live by faith is brought out. The faith that makes such deeds
possible, deeds of valor, might, courage, or perseverance. And those are the
kinds of experience that those who live by faith are called upon to endure.

WHAT? We should expect being sawn in two?? Not necessarily—unless, of course, you become a magician’s assistant. Seriously though, the sobering, uncomfortable truth bluntly stated by the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12 still stands: everyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus will be persecuted. Sure, most of us may never be subjected to the mistreatments recounted in Hebrews 11—thrown into a den of lions, tortured, beaten or put in jail, or forced to live in a cave because of our faith. (If you’re like me, when you hear about the trials and tests of fellow Christians in other parts of the world, you pray for them, wonder how you would react in the same circumstances, and then pray again that you’ll never find out!) But Scripture is pretty clear that we should be prepared for some kind of negative consequences as we follow Jesus.

Oh, but there’s a memorial in the works for those who stand firm in the faith! It may seem like a long time coming, but it’s on the way, says the apostle John:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it…
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne,
and the books were opened. Another book was opened, which was
the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had
done as recorded in the books…Nothing impure will ever enter [heaven]
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those
‘whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
(Revelation 20:12, 21:27 )

Whatever we are called upon to endure in serving the Lord, whatever deeds of valor, might, courage or perseverance we might perform in His service, let us press on for this highest honor, the most fabulous heroes’ welcome we could ever imagine, straight from the mouth of the Hero of Heroes:

“Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

Comments (4) Nov 05 2009

August 24, 2009

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Proverbs 3:27

Kurt Repanshek, writing for the travel site frommers.com, offers a glimpse into how the money allotted to the National Park Service through the federal economic stimulus program is being spent. Some improvements will be visible to visitors—the repaving in Acadia, and new restrooms and road repairs at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for example—while other work will be more behind the scenes, such as the upgrade to Yellowstone’s park headquarters’ heating system.

“All told across the National Park System there are nearly 800 projects that are being financed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” Kurt reports. “True, the $750 million earmarked for this work pales in comparison to the roughly $8 billion-$9 billion maintenance backlog that confronts the National Park Service, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

When I read this article last week, I thought of a recent conversation I had with my friend Shari.  She was recalling the time several years ago when her family had been going through a rough patch financially, specifically a day at the supermarket when her young daughter desperately wanted Oreos. “Sorry babe, we can’t afford it,” she had to tell her, which just about broke Shari’s heart.

But when they arrived back home, they discovered several bags of groceries had been left on their front steps. And right on top of one of them was a package of Oreos. Her daughter was so excited that she danced on the front lawn.

Shari still doesn’t know who left the food, but she is sure of one thing: it was God who prompted the donor to include a specific brand of chocolate sandwich cookies, just for her little girl.

Whether that anonymous giver was a Christian is uncertain. But Scripture is clear that good deeds, while not the basis for faith, are a natural extension of it: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

As far as those good deeds go, the book of Titus encourages us to be an example of, zealous for, and careful to engage in them (2:7,14; 3:8). Galatians 6:10 tells us to do good to all when we have the opportunity, especially toward our fellow believers. And Matthew 6:3 and 4 remind us that our acts perhaps are best done in secret.

If we Christians took these admonitions seriously, I wonder how our communities and churches would be transformed.

Let’s give it a try. Let’s “consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).

Because somebody nearby really needs an Oreo today.

Comments (3) Aug 24 2009