Life Lessons from the National Parks

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

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

March 29, 2010

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:3, 4

Platt National Park—ever hear of it?

I didn’t think so. It was, as Bob Janiskee writes in an article at National Parks Traveler, a “70-year old mistake…the only National Recreation Area in the National Park System that was once designated as a National Park.”

Orville Hitchcock Platt was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut actively involved in American Indian affairs. He sponsored the 1902 legislation that established the Sulphur Springs Reservation, a 640-acre parcel in Oklahoma that the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians had sold to the federal government in order to protect its mineral springs from development. After Platt died in 1905, his fellow legislators decided to honor his contributions to the country by promoting Sulphur Springs Reservation to Platt National Park.

The problem was, as nice as it was, this place just didn’t have any of the attributes that signified a national park. It couldn’t even come close to being in the same league as the existing national parks at the turn of the century—Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mount Rainier and Crater Lake. It attracted little attention in its first 25 years of existence. During the ‘30s, the Civilian Conservation Corps planted trees, constructed waterfalls, ponds, campgrounds, and picnic areas, and other Roosevelt-era agencies improved the roads. The improvements drew more visitors, but still, Platt remained, as Janiskee puts it, “unworthy of national park status.”

Finally, in 1976, Congress redesignated the park and folded it into the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. So as not to denigrate the park’s namesake, the legislation also provided for some kind of commemoration of the late Senator Platt. And indeed, there is a plaque about him installed on the premises.

Perhaps this whole episode can be chalked up to an impulsive and rash (but good-intentioned) decision by Congress. It certainly wouldn’t be the last!

Good thing Orville Platt wasn’t around to see the day he was “demoted.” How embarrassing would that be?! That’s why I’d never want anyone to name anything after me (like that’s ever going to happen…)

The one honor I will take, though, is the exciting and glorious reward the apostle Peter reassures me is waiting in heaven. Jesus promises that the name of everyone who believes in Him is already written down there in the “book of life”—not in erasable pencil, but in permanent ink (Luke 10:20, Revelation 3:5).

I’m so glad that, thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, I not only have a great future ahead of me, I have the distinction of being His child right here and now (John 1:12).

I hope you too have that confidence this Easter. ‘Cause aint nuthin’ or nobody can take it away from us!

Comments (1) Mar 31 2010

February 1, 2010

Be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. Matthew 24:42

I was in the airport when the first reports about the earthquake in Haiti were coming in. Then I hopped a plane to Egypt, where for nine days I didn’t have access to an English newspaper or broadcast.  It wasn’t until I got home that I learned the full scope of the tragedy.

(Don’t expect me to make some sort of pronouncement about God’s judgment or anything—there’s suffering and death on top of terrible poverty and years of corruption, and we need to be weeping along with Haiti (Romans 12:15), and helping, not wasting our time issuing verdicts).

Today I read a small item in the paper about recent seismic activity in Yellowstone. It seems that for the last couple of weeks, more than a hundred tiny tremors a day have rattled a section of the park about ten miles northwest of the Old Faithful geyser. Scientists monitoring the situation are on alert but not alarmed, and they don’t believe the tremors are indications of a larger event to come.

So much talk about earthquakes made me curious about where the word comes up in the Bible. I found several mentions. Amos 1:1 refers to one (a commentary says that earthquakes were so common that for the prophet to have noted it, it must have been unusually severe). Zechariah also cites this event (14:5), as does the historian Josephus, according to the commentary.

Then there is the earthquake that occurred when Jesus died on the cross (Matthew 27:50-54), which tore the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple (Exodus 26:37, 38:18; Hebrews 9:3), caused tombs to open and people to rise up out of them, and impressed a centurion so much that he believed in Jesus on the spot. I also read the account of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, praying and singing their hearts out when a temblor shook the foundations of the prison, flung open all the doors and unlocked the prisoners’ chains (Acts 16:25-34). Again, it made such an impact that the guard immediately became a Christian.

But perhaps the most compelling citations have to do with what is commonly called the end times, when Jesus returns to earth. When asked by His disciples what signs they should look for, Jesus mentions several things, including earthquakes, and gives further illustrations through several parables (Matthew 24 and 25). The book of Revelation alludes to many cosmic disturbances (6:12-14), and a series of tremors (8:5; 11:13, 19), including one that will be “such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth” (16:18). Sobering stuff.

Now, I’m not going to start predicting the end of the world is near, because Scripture explicitly states that’s impossible (Matthew 24:36, 42 50; 25:13), and we can be easily misled by false teachers who try to set dates (Matthew 24:4, 5, 11, 23, 24). The two abiding principles I do get from all these passages are, 1) when Jesus comes, it will be unmistakable (Matthew 24:27-31) and, 2) we need to act as if it would happen any moment (Matthew 24:42-44, 25:13).

I imagine most Haitians had no idea a massive earthquake was on the way—they were too busy just trying to survive to give it much thought, if any at all. In that, they are not too much different from the rest of us, as we plod along day by day, dealing with Yellowstone-like rumblings and occasional scary upheavals that can leave us shaken and bereft. But there will come a day when we’ll be hit by The Big One, which will be way beyond anything the world has ever experienced.

The question I ask myself is: will I be ready?

Comments (2) Feb 01 2010

December 21, 2009

Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19

When my family and I were fortunate enough to visit Yellowstone several years ago, we arrived in time to celebrate the park’s annual Christmas in August. “Christmas comes twice a year—once at home and once up here,” is the unofficial motto. One thing that happens is some hearty park employees ford the chilly Firehole River to reach Christmas Tree Rock, and decorate a lodgepole pine with red and green paper ropes and tinsel.

There are a couple of versions as to how this whole tradition got started. The most popular is that sometime in the early part of last century, a blizzard struck Yellowstone, stranding summer visitors. Marooned at the Old Faithful Lodge and looking out over a winter wonderland, the employees and guests decided to hold a Christmas celebration. The difficulty with that story is that while brief snowstorms can occur in the area at the end of August, a full-fledged whiteout is highly unlikely, and no historical records substantiate it anyway.

Another version is that the park employees started the custom themselves, in July, with events that featured floats, a costume ball, skits, dancing, singing and wild partying. In an attempt to rein in the festivities, park management opened up the gatherings to guests.

At some point, the day of celebration moved from July to August, and eventually settled in on August 25^th. Again, no one’s quite sure why—it could be because it’s the anniversary date of the founding of the National Park Service. Or because it was the time when many temporary summer park employees left to go back to school, home or to their fall and winter jobs.

Interestingly, one account says that the date change was due to Warren Ost, a Princeton divinity student and seasonal bellhop who organized choral groups and set a goal of performing Handel’s “Messiah.” He needed more time to practice, so the Christmas celebration was pushed back another month. Mr. Ost also began a Christian student group in the park, and went on to found A Christian Ministry in the National Parks, an organization that places ministry teams in more than 20 parks each year. Every Sunday between Memorial Day and Labor Day, ACMNP offers about 150 worship services at 75 different sites in the parks.

You can read more about Christmas in August at Yellowstone on its website here (click on 2001, Volume 9 Number 3, then go to page 2), as well as at Wikipedia, and Trip Advisor.

And me? What did I get out of the summer Christmas celebration? An ornament for my tree.

What I should have added was the opportunity to experience the mystery and wonder of God coming to earth in human form, albeit at a different time of year, something that would have cost me only time. But you know how it is—vacations are for fun, not serious contemplation! And, come to think of it, the “real” Christmas in December is so full of shopping, decorating, sending out cards and baking cookies, that there’s not much time for reflection then either!

Jesus’ mother Mary learned early on how to store up and treasure the amazing things that happened to her. She was still doing it when her Son turned 12, and He stayed behind in the temple (Luke 2:51). I imagine the practice continued when she saw Him turn water into wine (John 2:1-11), and as she witnessed the countless other miracles He performed. Perhaps even at the cross, Mary sadly stored up the terrible scene (John 19:25-27); most certainly she did so joyously when she saw Jesus alive again. Undoubtedly, she called up those precious memories many times during her life, turning them over and over in her mind.

Why don’t we follow her example?

Even Charles Dickens recognized the need to keep that spirit alive all year round, as he wrote of the transformed Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol:

It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

Comments (1) Dec 22 2009

October 12, 2009

I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of [our enemies]. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” Nehemiah 4:13, 14

Perhaps, like me and other members of my family, you’ve been collecting the state and territorial commemorative quarters that have been issued over the last eleven years. If so, then you might have heard that the U.S. Mint will be starting the America the Beautiful Quarters Program next year. The coins will honor 56 units of the National Park Service, one for each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. The locations featured on the quarters’ reverse side will be in the order they were designated as national parks, forests or historic sites, with five issued every year and the final one in 2021.

First up is Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. Surprised? Congress set aside Hot Springs Reservation (the park’s first designation) in 1832—forty years before Yellowstone. That Wyoming park will be on the second quarter issued in 2010, followed by Yosemite (California), Grand Canyon (Arizona) and Mt. Hood National Forest (Oregon).

The honor of being chosen to appear on the quarters didn’t come by chance. When I was at Homestead, which will represent Nebraska in 2015, I found out that it took some campaigning to win the coveted spot. After all, there are four other national park units in the state: Agate Fossil Bed National Monument, Missouri National Recreational River, Niobrara National Scenic River and Scotts Bluff National Monument. The rangers at Homestead were happy their effort paid off.

In Scripture, Nehemiah was a man who knew how to fight for something. When he first heard about the trouble and disgrace of the returned exiles in Jerusalem, he wept, fasted and prayed (Nehemiah 1:3-10). Next he seized an opportunity, prayed some more, and pleaded his case before his boss, King Artaxerxes (vs. 2-9).

But he was just getting started. The rest of chapter one and the next five chapters detail the opposition he faced in rebuilding the city’s broken down wall. Things got so bad that “those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked” (4:17, 18).  But the job got done in record time, because the people were motivated to protect what was dear to them—their families and their property—and because, as Nehemiah adjured them, “Our God will fight for us!” (4:20).

Today, we still need to wage war on behalf of the most important people in our lives. Since “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12), our weapons must be able to stand up to these invisible foes. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4).

Our most powerful weapon? Prayer. It’s also the most difficult one to handle. Taking time to pray regularly and deliberately is undoubtedly the hardest discipline of the Christian life.

How to do it? Through much trial and error and habitual practice, I’ve found a system and a method that works for me—if I keep at it! My greatest resource has been my Moms in Touch prayer groups, which I’ve attended for over fifteen years. There I learned a terrific model of Scripture-centered intercessory prayer that, while specifically targeting my daughter, is applicable to prayers for anyone and any situation.

Even if you’re not a mom, I hope you, like Jerusalem’s long-ago wall builders, will commit to doing your work with one hand and wielding your prayer weapon with the other.

And remember–the great and awesome God fights right alongside you.

Comments (2) Oct 12 2009