More Redwoods

Last week I had the most wonderful experience of hunkering down in Humboldt Redwoods State Park with my husband, five of my children and one niece. If you haven't seen a redwood tree in its optimal environment, you’re really missing something. Sharing a twelve man tent with six other people under the shade of redwood trees and California laurel trees was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had this year, enhanced by the fact that many of the really big trees I had read about in 'Wild Trees' were in that park. Unfortunately I would have had to do a huge amount of detective work and go off trail to find them since biologists, understandably, would rather the average traveler not trample around these huge wonders of God's creation. I'm not about to take children bushwhacking in search of these trees, they were worn enough just following the nine mile Bull Creek Flat loop trail. Maybe my husband and I will go bushwhacking some other year. (It’s really fun to say you’re going to go bushwhacking by the way, it just sounds adventurous.)

After spending a good amount of time among these redwoods I had a dream that I would love to share. I dreamed I was standing at the foot of one of these 300+ foot giants looking up into its spectacular green canopy. I stood there, dwarfed and holding a plastic jug of water. (According to an article I read, redwoods transpire 500 gallons of water a day.) In my dream I was told that I was responsible for this one redwood tree. It was my job to make sure it had enough water and nutrients to allow it to not just survive, but thrive. I have never had such an intense feeling of being overwhelmed and under equipped in a dream before, how was I supposed to deliver enough water to this tree everyday to keep it from dying away? Fortunately, when I woke up, I sensed God reminding me that only He could sustain a redwood tree, and in fact he does sustain the entire redwood forest as well as all other life on earth.....including mine. Just as I cannot sustain a redwood tree, I cannot even sustain my own life. I am sustained by Christ alone. Why do I continue to worry about how I'm going to get by, when I have the One who sustains the largest trees in the world promising to sustain me? My father is the sustainer of all, and I want to gladly follow Him and know Him. I believe if I do that, I need never worry about my life or my lives of my family.