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.

Retreat

I recently took a mini retreat with my friend Mary. We felt that it would be good to go camping somewhere and spend time together getting closer to God. Here are a few of the valuable lessons we learned. Some can be applied to our relationship with God. :)

1. When the signs keep telling you that the road is closed and to follow the detour, the road is probably closed. We added an extra five miles to our late night drive because I wasn't completely convinced the road was closed that late at night. The man with the stop sign didn't seem to mind though, he apparently appreciated an occasional conversation with the drivers who weren't easily convinced the detour was necessary.

2. Cinder cone volcanoes are really amazing and it's worth the 1000 foot grueling uphill hike to see inside the crater and to view the lava flows. If you can ever get the time to go climb a volcano (dormant or extinct are best), I highly recommend it. To stand on top of a mountain that at one time spewed or oozed out molten rocks from deep within the earth's crust gives an amazing view of just how powerful God is. imagine picking up a rock and trying to wrap your mind around the fact that the rock, in some recent period of time (in this case 300 years ago) was deep below the surface of earth as magma.

I must admit that I am a bit obsessed with rocks, I love the stories they tell, whether they cooled deep beneath the surface of earth, or were thrown out and cooled as they flew through the air or crept along the surface. Then there are ones that hardened as sediment containing in them the fossils that tell their story. Most fascinating are the metamorphic rocks that were heated and bent and changed by the pressure, often of two plates colliding.

To me rocks and mountains do cry out in praise of God. They remind me just how powerful He is. He puts the rocks where he wants them. True we can explain them scientifically, but that doesn't leave God out of the picture; He is still the one who forms them and makes them what he wants them to be.

My point is, standing on top of Cinder Cone volcano in Lassen Volcanic National Park, I was overwhelmed with the beauty God had placed there and the power he displayed when he brought these rocks to the surface changing an entire landscape.


3. (This is most important.) We all need Daddies. A woman had carried her precious 35 pound child up the mountain on her back, stopping often to rest but determined to make it to the top. How she managed, I don't know. It was quite a feat since the angle of the trail was about 55 degrees most of the way up. Upon reaching the crater rim she discovered she was actually the second mother with a baby on the mountain that day. She offered this heartbreaking encouragement to her healthy boy, "see, you don't need a daddy, that mom carried her baby up the mountain too."

What a statement! That led to a prayer and conversation with my friend Mary. You see, recently I have been spending much time trying to grasp the fact that God is not just my FATHER but my Daddy. Father always sounds kind of severe to me, like I'd better behave or I'll be in trouble. Daddy means I'm cherished, I'm loved and the apple of someone's eye. What I thrill I have recently found, that I am the apple of God's eye. We all are! Suddenly I don't really care so much for the approval of others because my Daddy loves me. Of course I have a good earthly daddy, and I love him very much, but I think he would agree with me that the most fulfilling and wonderful relationship is with my Daddy God.

We all need a daddy. There isn’t a person on this planet that doesn’t feel the need deep within their soul. Deny it if you want, but how wonderful it feels to be loved by a father. It is those who have a good father here on earth who can best grasp what it means to have a heavenly Father, but those whose father was far from perfect or not even there, can come to a joyous discovery when they find they are cherished by a Father greater than any man could ever be.

Wandering

My husband and I recently hiked to Lover's Leap in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was quite an easy hike, much to our surprise. After about forty-five minutes of hiking we began to feel tired but ready to face the next hour or two. Fortunately that was about when we discovered the "false summit" we thought we were looking at was the real summit and our hike was done, at least the uphill segment. We sat and enjoyed a spectacular view of Pyramid Peak, admired pine trees twisted and bent by relentless wind and attempted to comprehend the great height we had achieved in such a short time as we watched ant sized cars winding on Hwy 50 below us. We watched rock climbers ascending a nearby cliff face, impressed by their skill and speed. They reminded me of the aforementioned book "Wild Trees" and I wondered, "Why would I climb a cliff face if I can hike up the backside of it and enjoy the trail with its streams, trees and birds. There is no way up a tree but to climb, but hiking is a much better option for mountain tops in my opinion.

After resting a bit we decided to take the hard way down the mountain and followed the edge of the cliff over to where the rock climbers were ascending. It felt just right to scramble down boulders and past steep gorges in the cliff rather than amble down a smooth trail. Eventually we met up with the trail the rock climbers follow once they've ascended their wall. It was a beautiful hike and I found a spring. I have never seen a spring before and I found this little miracle of water completely wonderful. Imagine, water coming from the mountains. Sure it originated from snow melt somewhere, but here it was gurgling out from under some rocks, with no apparent source but the deep mountain. It kind of reminded me of Tangle traveling to the depths of the earth to find the place the Golden Key belongs to in George MacDonald's "The Golden Key". (You'll just have to read story.)

Eventually we met up with a wider trail and followed it until we discovered an uncompleted house filled with shrubs. It was quite a mystery as to what happened. The house was built of granite cemented together with windows and doors everywhere. We surmised that either the builder was injured or perished, or he was stopped by the Eldorado National Forest people before he could finish. "Hewn out of the very rocks" as Derek said in his brilliantly realistic Scottish accent.

After we finished admiring the granite house we continued on the trail. Unfortunately the trail abandoned us at the south fork of the American River. Knowing we had parked next to the river we decided to follow it back to the car instead of going toward the freeway and following it. That was an adventure in itself. We had so much fun climbing boulders, crossing logs and navigating through the shrubs along the banks of the river. Three hours after we had decided not to take the easy trail back to the car we arrived at our car exhausted but glad for the adventure.

I could, here, discuss the significance of the wilderness experience, or talk about trails in our forests as opposed to roads, or discuss tourist travel versus exploring nature and getting to know God's creation, but really I just enjoyed the adventure and the time alone with my husband, not to mention the delicious pizza after the hike. Sometimes its good just to get out and enjoy God's creation, to get dirty and exhausted exploring the course of a river, or enriched sitting at the base of a really big tree and listening to the wind blow through its high branches, or discover something you've never seen before (like a half built house in the semi-wilderness).
Picture by Derek McHenry

Don't sit around too much or you may miss something wonderful.