Life in Grand Canyon National Park is by any measure big (or grand, you might say).
It doesn’t matter if you measure by the antlers of the elks who wander its grounds, or the Class V-difficulty rapids cascading over boulders in the riverbed, or the towering branches of ponderosa pines that line its southern edges, or the magic of gold aspen leaves quaking in the barely perceptible autumn breeze in North Rim timber stands, or the wingspans of California condors soaring sublimely in its skies. However you measure, the answer is the same, it’s big.
In fact, many would argue it’s impossible to fully capture the canyon. Others would argue you have to see it to believe it.
But all would agree, when you see the Grand Canyon, you will stand in awe of its grandeur and be humbled at the realization of your own finitude. It’s almost impossible to be unmoved by the experience of Grand Canyon National Park.
One artist once arrived at Point Imperial, the canyon’s highest overlook, paint and canvas in hand, and said to a passerby: “She doesn’t give herself up easily to pen or paper, but that won’t keep me from trying to capture how this place speaks to me. I just have to keep coming back, listening, watching, and trying again and again.”
Isn’t that faith?
On one hand, God is beyond understanding and separate from the world. And on the other, God chooses to be in relationship with creation and with humans. Scripture describes God as omniscient and all-knowing. And Scripture describes God as knowable, even revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
It can be difficult to hold both ideas together.
Just think of Job. After chapters of crying out to God, grieving all that he had lost, Job finally hears from God who says to him, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me. ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding’” (Job 38:2-4).
When speaking about faith it can be overwhelming, perspective-altering, and difficult to articulate what it feels like to know that the core of our finite being has been touched by the Infinite.
When have you been particularly awed by the wonder of God as you see God revealed in creation?
Grace and peace,
Kimmy
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