Life Lessons from the National Parks

October 4, 2012

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

In case you’ve been wondering where I’ve been since August—I’ve been helping my mother move! And now I’m getting back up to speed on what’s happening in our national parks…

I recently read an article in The New York Times about a professional rock climber who scaled Yosemite National Park’s three biggest rock faces in succession, alone, and in less than 24 hours.

My first thought was, there are people who are professional rock climbers? Second: Is he nuts? Third: Just the idea of it gives me the willies.

Seriously though, this task is called the triple, and Alex Honnold’s quest involved going straight up Mount Watkins, El Capitan and Half Dome, which total about 7,000 vertical feet.

But here’s the unbelievably scary part: Except for 500 feet, he ascended with no ropes or safety equipment.

“There is nothing in sports that compares to this,” says climber John Long in the article. “The physical exertion alone is amazing.” Most people need several days to tackle even one of those rock walls, and only a handful of climbers—at most—are capable of doing it in one day.

The reporter who observed Honnold complete the feat said watching was both “terrifying and impressive.” He also noted the comments of a nearby hiker: “Dude, are you serious! I can’t look.”

My feelings exactly…(if your stomach can take it, check out the piece on him from 60 Minutes).

The reason this story stuck in my head—aside from the fact that it’s about the national parks—is that we had sung the hymn “Higher Ground” in church the previous week. The second verse had really caught my attention:

My heart has no desire to stay

Where doubts arise and fears dismay;

Though some may dwell where these abound,

My prayer, my aim is higher ground.

This year, I’ve been working hard on prayerfully combating the myriad of anxieties that parade along well-worn tracks in my brain on a depressingly regular basis. On the Sunday morning I was re-introduced to this oldie-but-goodie song, I realized all over again that I really, really don’t want to wallow in the lowlands of doubt and fear anymore. Just like Alex Honnold, I’m aiming for higher ground.

Unlike him, though, I don’t have anything to prove by going it alone, nor does God ask or even want me to. My “triple”—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—supply the “everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27) I need for the journey. And when I’m all done, I’m headed even higher, to my forever home.

What “rock walls” are you facing? What’s keeping you in the valley instead of looking—and going—up? The trek may be terrifying at times, and the world might call you crazy, but the rewards from God are great (Hebrews 11:6).

As for the national parks, well, I’ll just stick to the trails, thank you very much…

Comments (0) Oct 04 2012

August 13, 2012

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love…We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His Holy name. Psalm 33:17-18, 20-21

Continuing in my series on summer shore spots in the national parks, I’m thinking today about the wild ponies at Assateague Island National Seashore.

Earlier this year, at the start of the hurricane season, I read an article about them and the barrier island on which they live. As you might imagine, fierce storms are a danger to this spit of land that has its north entrance 8 miles south of Ocean City, Maryland, and southern access from Chincoteague, Virginia. Diane Ackerman, the author The New York Times piece, relates that she grew up reading Marguerite Henry’s “Misty of Chincoteague” books, a fiction series that tells the story of real characters and horses. (The horses are split into two main herds, one on the Virginia side and one on the Maryland side of the island, and separated by a fence at the state line. The Park Service manages the Maryland herd, and the Virginia herd is often referred to as the Chincoteague ponies.)

One of the Misty books is titled “Stormy, Misty’s Foal,” and is based on the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962, a destructive hurricane that ravaged the East Coast for nearly three days and tore up the city of Chincoteague. Many of the ponies died in the fierce storm, but Misty and her newborn—who was named Stormy—survived. But it took many years for the coastline and its cities and towns to recover, and also for the wild ponies to repopulate. As Ackerman notes, “only the fittest and smartest ponies survived.”

These horses have to be hardy. Not only do they face extreme weather conditions, but a poor food supply. They eat abundant but nutrient-poor saltmarsh cordgrass, hay and beach grass (their short stature is a result of adapting to the low-quality diet). They also drink about twice the amount of water that domesticated horses due, because of their salty food supply, which contributes to their bloated appearance.

Still, even these sturdy horses are vulnerable, not only to climate, but from humans. Visitors are enthralled watching the beautiful, wild ponies, seemingly so carefree and strong.  But feeding and/or petting them is detrimental to their health—“people food” can make them sick, and horses that learn to come up to the road seeking food can get hit by cars.

And of course, they are managed, so their population doesn’t overrun the island. The Park Service uses contraceptives to limit offspring to fewer than ten foals a year, just enough to sustain the numbers. In the Virginia herd, most of the 60-90 foals born annually are auctioned off every July, which benefits the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, which has charge of the herd.

One day I hope to get down to Assateague to see the horses myself. I imagine they’re quite magnificent. But just reading about them reminds me that as impressive and robust as they are, they really are as weak as I am. Like them, I know how to “survive,” how to get along in this world. But so often I come to a point where things don’t go as I’d hoped or planned, when unexpected circumstances and up-and-down emotions take over, and I feel helpless.

At those times, I can’t rely on an army to help me, nor a horse, nor even my battered self. I need a God who’s bigger than that, One who says He’s always watching out for and waiting to help those who are fully committed to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

My prayer is that you too can say, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but I trust in the name of the Lord my God” (Psalm 20:7).

Comments (1) Aug 13 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

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

April 11, 2011

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks [Gentiles] or to the church of God… 1 Corinthians 10: 23-24, 31-32

Tomorrow, April 12, marks the 150^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, when Confederate forces fired shots on Fort Sumter.

The national monument is now in the midst of nine days of living history programs observing the start of the conflict. And as The New York Times noted in an article Sunday, “If the period leading to the outbreak of the Civil War was a confusing patch in American history, the threat of a government shutdown threw the spirited preparations for [the commemoration] into almost as much chaos.”

Because Fort Sumter, as part of the government’s National Park Service, would have had to close if a budget deal stalled, the park staff split its rangers into two teams, one to work on commemoration plans, and another to prepare for a possible closing. Union Army re-enactors were forced to leave the grounds in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday. At nearby Fort Moultrie, another Park Service site, others had to sleep in their vehicles in the parking lot rather than risk eviction.

As a Union re-enactor put it, “We’re like the poster child for the effects of a government shutdown.” One Confederate re-enactor went a step further—“We took over Fort Sumter by force once before, and we can do it again.”  Fortunately, it didn’t come down to that…

Controversy over Civil War observances erupted last December, when Confederate enthusiasts celebrated the 150^th anniversary of South Carolina’s withdrawal from the Union with a Secession Gala. Outside the auditorium where the ball was held, about a hundred people protested, the Times reported in an online commentary. “Slavery is what you defend when you have a party, a celebration, get drunk, holler loud, act like a rebel, and talk about how you’re celebrating your heritage,” said NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] leader Reverend Nelson B. Rivers III. “No matter how you dress it up, it is still slavery.”

The Park Service, however, is striving to acknowledge both sensitivities. Quoting Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Fort Sumter’s Superintendant Tim Stone said, “The sesquicentennial of the Civil War is a time to commemorate those who fought and died during this pivotal era in American history. At the same time, it is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to the ongoing march for freedom and equality for all people.”

There will be many events and activities over the next four years as we look back at the battles, personalities and issues associated with the Civil War. And there undoubtedly will be continued controversy over how they are portrayed, interpreted and memorialized. Let’s hope that they won’t divide us, as they did 150 years ago, but teach us all over again how to respect differences and see things from others’ points of view.

Let’s drop the “war” and just be civil.

Comments (1) Apr 11 2011

November 22, 2010

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…But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:16, 20-21

In a little over a year, Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site will open its Center for Education and Leadership, right across the street from the place where John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. The $25 million center is a partnership between the Ford’s Theatre Society and the National Park Service.

The center will “explore Lincoln’s legacy and the aftermath of his assassination,” according to an article in The New York Times. It will complement the theatre’s museum which, along with the theatre itself, is being overhauled in anticipation of the center’s February 2012 opening, 203 years after Lincoln’s birth.

The approach at the education center, however, will be somewhat different from that of the museum, say theatre society director Paul Tetreault, and historian Richard Norton Smith, an advisor on the project. The center hopes to “provide a wide range of views on Lincoln and his legacy, allowing visitors to come to their own conclusions,” the Times piece summarizes. As Mr. Smith puts it, “This at least feels to me like a fresh attempt to examine what is in some ways a never-ending story from multiple perspectives over different generations.” (Frankly, I didn’t realize there were a whole lot of perspectives or opinions left to explore on Lincoln and his presidency.  Guess that’s why I’m not a historian!)

One interesting feature of the new center is a three-story tower of books, a sculpture stacking replicas of works written about Lincoln, just to show just how many there are. Which got me thinking about the number of books written lately about God. Here’s a list of some of them:

The Grand Design – Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
Women, Food and God – Geneen Roth
The Shack – William Young
The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
The Case for God – Karen Armstrong
The Evolution of God – Robert Wright
God is Not Great – Christopher Hitchens
The Reason for God – Timothy Keller

I haven’t read any of them (although my pastor says the last book is very good), so I can’t really speak about them with any authority. I suspect that I’d find Stephen Hawking hard to follow, since I don’t have a very science-oriented brain, and wouldn’t think much of the books by atheists Hitchens and Dawkins (as for God Himself’s opinion—He finds them laughingly pathetic, according to Psalm 2:4). My husband Joe found The Shack strange and kind of New Age-y, even though it’s targeted to a Christian audience.

But here’s what I find most interesting about all the God books: it seems people would rather read them than read the one book that’s the real authority on God—the Bible. And it shows. The recently released Pew Forum U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey finds that “Mormons, black Protestants and white evangelicals are the most frequent readers of materials about religions. Fully half of all Mormons (51%) and roughly three-in-ten white evangelicals (30%) and black Protestants (29%) report that they read books or go online to learn about their own religion at least once a week.”

And even though the survey says that, “many Americans are devoted readers of Scriptures,” only 37% say they read the Bible at least once a week, not counting worship services.

The survey goes on to report that only 71% of Americans know Jesus was born in Bethlehem (hellooo—doesn’t the Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” give a clue?!), and 63% correctly answer that Genesis is the first book of the Bible. And little more than half know that the Golden Rule—“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”—is not one of the Ten Commandments (it’s found in Matthew 7:12).

Houston, we have a problem…

When people who call themselves Christians aren’t going to the definitive source to find out how to live as a Christian…well, the church is in deep, deep trouble. If all we know is what we’ve read about the Bible, instead of reading and studying it for ourselves, we leave ourselves open to the influence of perspectives that may or may not lead us in the right direction. And while coming to our own conclusions about Abraham Lincoln won’t do us much harm, our ignorance or superficial knowledge of Scripture can make all the difference in the world—in this one and the next. We fall victim to a “pick and choose” kind of faith, one of our own interpretation, and that’s dangerous. As Peter emphasizes in the verse I quoted at the beginning, the Bible didn’t just magically come together from stories people made up based on myths and old wives’ tales. It contains eyewitness accounts from those who were involved in the events, both in the New and Old Testaments, to whom God, through the Holy Spirit, gave the impulse to write down what happened.

Not that faith in the Bible is always easy. Peter wraps up his second letter by admitting that, “some things [are] hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. But, he goes on, “knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Peter 3:16, 17).

So here’s a challenge for you, if you’re not doing it already: commit to studying the Bible. Not just reading it, but really getting into it. You can do this by regularly attending a group study, of course, but I mean a personal study, all by yourself. And I don’t mean reading a daily devotional either. I’m not knocking them, but using only publications like Our Daily Bread and The Upper Room to study the Bible is like subsisting on milk instead of solid food (and that’s a Biblical analogy found in Hebrews 5:12-14).

I happen to like the InterVarsity Quiet Time Bible studies—they’re down-to-earth yet thought-provoking, and really go to the heart of the Scriptures. If you go to InterVarsity’s website, you can download a study each day and get past studies, all for free (click on “Current Quiet Time” and “Bible Study Schedule” on the right side of the page). There are also lots of low-cost study guides you can buy from the site or at Christian bookstores. Or ask your pastor for suggestions, or just go to your local Christian bookstore, browse the shelves and pick one.  And while you’re there, buy two other great Bible study tools—a concordance, with which you can find specific words in the Bible (a study on a particular word or topic using a concordance is an enlightening–and even fun!–kind of study), and a commentary (I prefer Wycliffe’s) to further aid your understanding. They’re both a little pricey (and heavy!), but they’re good investments. Ask for them for Christmas!

You too can have the confidence Peter does, as he writes, “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, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19), a probable reference to Jesus Himself (Revelation 2:28, 22:16).

May He and His words burn brightly inside us as we come to know Him better.

Comments (4) Nov 23 2010

November 15, 2010

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups [Jew and Gentile] into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall…that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross… Ephesians 2:13-16

My thanks to my neighbor Kay who brought this article in The New York Times to my attention, about the National Park Service’s efforts to reach out to African Americans.

According to the article, in a survey done in 2000, “only 13 percent of black respondents reported visiting a national park in the previous two years [as compared with] 27 percent for Latinos, 29 percent for Asians and 36 percent for whites.” And those numbers have not changed significantly since the 1960s, when the problem of less minority visitation was first identified as an issue.

Of course, there are more black visitors to sites such as the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, “but attendance tends to be more homogenously white at wilderness parks like Yosemite, where…visitors are overwhelmingly non-Hispanic white, highly educated and affluent.”

Shelton Johnson, a black park ranger in Yosemite, who was also featured in Ken Burns’ national parks documentary, America’s Best Idea, sent a letter to Oprah Winfrey, in which he pleaded, “Every year, America is becoming increasingly diverse, but that diversity is not reflected in the national parks, even though African-Americans and other groups played a vital role in the founding of the national parks [black Buffalo Soldiers guarded the first national parks, and Mr. Johnson wrote a novel about them, and also portrays a Buffalo Soldier in reenactments]. If the national parks are America’s playground, then why are we not playing in the most beautiful places in America?”

In answer, Oprah went to Yosemite, and featured her visit on two recent segments of her show. Mr. Johnson said he wasn’t surprised to learn that this was her first trip to a national park (and her first time camping). He says he’s “more likely to meet someone from Finland or Israel in the park than from, say, Harlem or Oakland, Calif.”

Joe and I have noticed the same thing. Europeans are a common sight in the parks, but blacks—from America or elsewhere—are not. And that’s a terrible shame.

Fortunately, Jonathan Jarvis, who took over as director of the Park Service last year, is looking to remedy the problem. “There’s a disconnect that needs addressing,” he says in the Times article.

Some of the steps the Park Service is taking to be more welcoming are incorporating stories like that of the Buffalo Soldiers into park tours and brochures, planning partnerships with high schools that arrange park jobs for students, more naturalization ceremonies for new citizens in the parks, and recruiting employees at black colleges. He acknowledges that the efforts are scattered, though, and many more are needed. Of course, the Oprah segments help, as does having a black family in the White House who has visited two national parks already.

The early church had something of a similar disconnect. The book of Acts spans 30 years of transition following Jesus’ ascension, as the gospel message moved from being directed mainly to Jews to including Gentiles as well. Chapters 10, 11 and 15 especially deal with the struggle of Jewish and Gentile believers coming to terms with their different habits and ways. The church’s continued existence depended upon hearing each other’s concerns, finding areas of agreement, and hammering out concessions so that everyone, no matter what their heritage or background, would feel welcome in this new religion called Christianity.

So, let’s continue in that vein, being sensitive to what would keep fellow Americans from visiting the parks and encouraging more diverse programming and such on the part of the Park Service.

And oh yeah, let’s do that in our churches and our neighborhoods while we’re at it. Because heaven will be populated by people “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,” all purchased for God with the blood of Jesus (Revelation 5:9).

Comments (3) Nov 15 2010

August 2, 2010

Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

Having just returned from a refreshing two weeks away from home—no postings for a while gave you a clue, right?—I’m naturally attuned to talk of vacations.

So when I saw a piece in The New York Times about President Obama’s controversial weekend getaway to Acadia National Park in Maine, I took the time to read it.

I was heartened to see that the First Family seems to enjoy our parks—last summer they went to Yellowstone.  At Acadia, they boated on Frenchman’s Bay, hiked, rode bikes and went to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest peak on the Eastern Seaboard and a great spot to catch a sunrise (I’ve been there three times, so I can easily envision the places they went).

The problem, according to some commentators, was that Michelle Obama had just urged Americans to vacation in communities along the Gulf of Mexico that have been economically hard hit from the oil spill.

Kind of makes me glad nobody’s scrutinizing my leisure activities…

Actually, Someone is. God goes with me on vacation, too, and not just in the Bible I pack and admittedly don’t read often enough while I’m away. He’s in the car, on the plane, walking the beach, hiking up trails, and at tourist attractions right next to me.

He remains the same God no matter where I go. The question is, am I as consistent?

The sad answer is, not always. I get cranky when my careful vacation planning falls apart (just ask Joe…). Haphazard meal times + heat = headaches and more crabbiness (ditto). I have a real problem with airport security procedures, and deplore the fact that baggage fees mean more people bring their bags onboard (even as I contribute to the problem). And I hate having to deal with crowds (I have enough at home, that’s why I’m escaping!).

It’s sometimes tempting to act differently (i.e. worse) around strangers whom I probably will never see again. But I’m mindful that my “public”—God—is “looking down with love,” as the old familiar children’s Bible song says, and I need to be just as careful what my eyes see, my ears hear and my mouth speaks when I go away as I try to be at home.

Comments (1) Aug 04 2010

May 10, 2010

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20

I’ve been meaning to talk about this previously, but perhaps you’ve read in the paper about the incursion of thousands of Burmese pythons into the Everglades. It seems these non-native reptiles are the offspring of cast-off pets, and they’re endangering the South Florida environment by eating up the indigenous wildlife—alligators included (brings kind of an interesting picture to mind, doesn’t it?). According to a piece in last Saturday’s New York Times, it’s gotten so bad that Congress is considering a ban on buying or selling several kinds of giant snakes.

But the thrust of this particular article wasn’t so much about the havoc they’re causing as it was about their newfound celebrity. That’s right—the pythons are becoming a tourist attraction. “They’re asking about pythons that don’t even belong here, instead of alligators,” said Bob Freer, who’s become a top private python hunter.

The public’s fascination with the snakes worries biologists. “People need to view exotic species invasions as pollution—biopollution,” said David E. Hallac, chief of biological resources for Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks, in the Times article. “In some cases, this form of biopollution can be even more difficult to remedy than chemical pollution, mainly because we have no way of cleaning up exotic species from our natural environment.”

The interest has led reporters to interview Everglades officials around 300 times, and Mr. Freer has appeared on Animal Planet and the History Channel to talk about the pythons.

So what we have here is a classic case of topsy turvy priorities: the native gators, birds and such that used to be the star attractions are now ceding the spotlight to creatures that aren’t even supposed to be there in the first place.

And don’t we often find that same reversal of standards all around us? Take the issue of civility, for example. Talk about exchanging the sweet for the bitter! In my exercise class this morning, I had a fellow student upbraid me for not working out hard enough—twice! Why this complete stranger felt it her duty to comment I have no idea. How have we gotten to be such a mouthy and rude country—is it a trickle down effect from the rancor we see in our national leaders, or a trickle up from the personal thoughtlessness and downright meanness we can’t seem to keep in check anymore?

But that pales in comparison to the cold shoulder too many give to God these days, the epitome of goodness and light. The latter part of Romans 1 lays out an indictment of those who ignore Him: “They became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, [and] exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” (vv. 21, 22, 25). The result is moral, spiritual and even physical pollution—“impurity…dishonor…degrading passions…indecent acts [and their] due penalty…depraved mind…wickedness, greed, evil…envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice,” and people becoming “gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful…” with the conclusion that “although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (vv. 24, 26, 28-32).

Strong words. Some would say condemning ones too. Ah, but the good news is that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:1, 2).

The struggle between evil and good and the tendency of us willful humans to flip flop the two is real. But God stands ready, with just a word of assent from us, to clear out the invasive sin, to “rescue the godly from temptation” (2 Peter 2:9) and “keep [us] from falling, and present [us] before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 25).

No Burmese pythons allowed!

Comments (0) May 10 2010

March 22, 2010

O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours…With joy I have seen Your people, who are present here make their offerings willingly to You. O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You… 2 Chronicles 29:16-18

A great friend of the parks died this past weekend—Stewart Udall, Interior Secretary under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Obituaries in The New York Times and The Washington Post made for fascinating reading. As the Times put it, “Few corners of the nation escaped Mr. Udall’s touch,” as he presided over the acquisition of 3.85 million acres of new holdings, including:

–4 national parks (Canyonlands in Utah, Redwood in California, North Cascades in Washington State and Guadalupe Mountains in Texas

–6 national monuments (Ellis Island in New York Harbor among them)

–9 national recreation areas

–20 national historic sites

–50 national wildlife refuges

–8 national seashores

According to the Post, Mr. Udall also helped pass a slew of legislation, like the Wilderness Act of 1964 (which protects about 400 million acres of land in 44 states), the National Historic Preservation Act (1966), the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968), and several others. He also was instrumental in creating the first federal bicycle paths and jogging trails.

In addition, in the late ’60s, he prevented dams from being built on the Colorado River that would have put vast stretches of the Grand Canyon under water, the Post reports. He served three terms in the House as a Democrat from Arizona before he was tapped for the Interior Department, and the move was not popular among some of those he had represented.

Nor were people happy in Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Cape Hatteras in North Carolina and Point Reyes in California, when he took those coastal lands out of private hands and established them as national seashores. They were sure the economic affect would be ruinous; instead, they’ve developed into lucrative (and protected) tourist destinations.

Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, who was President Clinton’s Interior Secretary, summed up his work in 2006, saying, “Stewart Udall, more than any other single person, was responsible for reviving the national commitment to conservation and environmental preservation.”

The two newspaper articles used words like “pushed” and “launched” to describe Mr. Udall’s efforts, suggesting a man who worked hard to achieve all he did for the greater public good. As I read, I thought of all those who toil away for different causes and yet receive little recognition. That led me to David’s prayer at the end of 1 Chronicles before the assembly of the Israelites, who had just given staggering amounts of gold, silver, brass, iron and precious stones “for the service for the house of God” (vv. 6-8). They offered “willingly,” the writer Ezra noted twice (vv. 6, 8), rejoicing “with their whole heart” (v. 9).

David’s eloquent yet humble prayer at the end of his life is one of Scripture’s greatest. He captures God’s amazing attributes: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all…” (vv. 11, 12), and wonders aloud, “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things comes from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (v. 14). Finally, David asks that this enthusiasm for worship, sacrifice and giving never wane among the people, especially in his son, Solomon, who will soon take his place as Israel’s leader (vv. 18, 19).

How I pray that all of us who have placed our trust in God would be known as preservationists, not only of the natural world, as Mr. Udall was, but more importantly, of “a perfect heart to keep God’s commandments, testimonies and statutes, and to do them all” (v. 19).

Because that’s the only thing we can take with us into eternity (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Comments (3) Mar 22 2010