Getting Away From It All

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Mark 6:31 King James Version

³¹ And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

 

It’s been a week and month of busyness. A friend came over to have me help her with taxes. There’s been the usual Spanish and writing classes. I’ve battled a stubborn cough and cold, and at one point was coughing so badly I went down and got myself tested for Covid. The test turned out negative: after all I have been vaccinated and boosted and have some natural immunity from having the annoying disease last July. We’ve installed a new gas range and dishwasher. The sprinkler system sprung a leak that turned out to be more complicated than usual, so I had to dig it up and repair it and then repair the repair.

Julia and David came over one day, and we went out to Joshua Tree and took a test drive in our Ford F-150 4x4 down Berdoo Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park. It is a canyon running down from the 4,000-foot heights of Hidden Valley to the below sea level in the Coachella Valley. Drivers with four-wheel drive vehicles like to go up and down the bed of the canyon because it is really challenging. One driver described it as squirrely, possibly meaning “only a squirrel can possibly make it through there unscathed.” Travel was slow. We often got out of the pickup and walked out in front of it to lay out plans to make it through all the rocks without destroying the undercarriage or getting hopelessly hung up on some rocks.

Joshua Tree National Park has been one of those places where we can get away from it all. Often the climbs and hikes get me to the point where I forget all of the worries and despair of everyday life and think only of how to stay alive. In late winter and early spring, the plants often turn green and sport beautiful blossoms, defying the drought and extremes of temperature so common in the desert. At night the heavens are aglow with the myriads of stars that are always there but never visible in the wash of city lights. I cannot but remind myself of the grace of Jesus Christ in this inhospitably complex world we find ourselves in.

Do I succeed in actually getting away from it all? Did Christ and His disciples succeed in getting away from it all after they got in the boat and went to the desert place? Read the subsequent verses in Mark 6. The blessings are there in spite of it all.

Grant us, Lord, the desperately needed rest and grace we seek.

 

[1] https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/joshua-tree-berdoo-canyon-old-dale-brooklyn-mine-trip-report.150738/

[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=berdoo+canyon&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS880US880&sxsrf=APq-WBuXUlW6VFDi2jh2a4Fi3xAQjMHyKQ:1649171223926&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt_ebHmf32AhXVKEQIHe3hBXAQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=916&bih=639&dpr=1.25#imgrc=AHBM-kAzwzvOgM

The Glory of the Stars

Psalm 23:4

King James Version

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

 

On his 85^th birthday, Grampa suffered a stroke. He deteriorated gradually until in his fifth week, he lapsed into a coma. He had become a very good friend of mine. Two years before, I had become very interested in the stars and astronomy. Dad taught at Helderberg College in South Africa, and the college librarian, Mrs. Gorle was a friend of our family, so she welcomed me into the library as a full-fledged member. I methodically read book after book in the astronomy section of the library. Grampa watched me reading these books.

Concerned, he said to me one day, “What are you reading?”

Enthusiastically I told him what I knew about the stars and planets.

“You know,” he said, “Stars are only balls of gas; they’re not really important to your life. You’re just wasting your time.”

This didn’t deter me; my interest had been piqued. One day I came home with a book entitled Astronomy and the Bible, published, if I remember correctly, about 1905. Interested, as usual in what I was reading, he picked it up and read the title. Then he leafed through the book. He had the habit of studying the Bible every day, and the title caught his interest.

“Mind if I borrow this?” He asked.

“Go right ahead, Grampa!” I encouraged him

He disappeared into his room and read it from cover to cover. The fascination of astronomy had caught him, too. Now he was competing with his ten-year old grandson to get the next astronomy book from the library. One day he came back with a brand-spanking-new copy of The Glory of the Stars, by Merlin L Neff, that the library had just put on their shelves. I was super excited and not a little jealous that he had found it before I did. We both read it and had a lot to talk about together.

Now, not much more than a year later, he lay in his bed dying. One morning he woke up from the coma. People gathered around, and visited with them on a one-by-one basis. Then he asked for me. I went in. He was as lucid as he had always been, although he was very weak. “Wilton, as you can see, I’m dying. Promise me that you will see me again in heaven.”

I promised. I was not yet a baptized Christian, but I promised and meant it. He died later on that day.

By your grace only, Lord, I am relying on You to help me keep that promise. And I ask you, Dear Reader, to make that same promise!

 

 

Seeing More Than You Expected

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Daniel 3:25 

New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Once or twice a year I would take several carloads of students to a computer show in Las Vegas. We spent the day looking at the latest innovations in the field of computers. We also marveled at the crazy lengths exhibitors went to trying to sell us their product. They showered us with relatively worthless gifts until everyone was walking around with a big bag of loot.

When the show closed, we would get in our cars and go to some casino where we could get a good meal for a very reasonable price. Then we headed south toward home in a caravan. As the miles ticked, by everyone would get sleepy—hopefully not the driver. South of Baker there are several exits off the I-15 freeway that go nowhere. There are no buildings, just a dirt road wandering off into the desert.

At the top of an exit I pulled over and stopped.

Students poured out of all the cars and ran up to me: “What’s wrong, Dr. Clarke?” they queried.

After a minute or two to let their eyes adjust to the darkness, I would point dramatically to the sky. “Look up!”

Their eyes turned heavenward, a unanimous awe inspired “Wow!” escaped their lips. They were city kids. They had never seen the majesty of a black sky with millions of stars, the Milky Way, the majesty of Orion.  Like Nebuchadnezzar in front of the fiery furnace, they would see far more than they ever knew existed. Their minds would begin to imagine how great God and His creation really are.

Thank You, O God, for being so immeasurably greater than our grandest concepts—and for being intimately interested in each of us.

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[i] https://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Winter-Milky-Way-Constellations-Orion-Gemini-Canis-Major-and-Canis-Minor-over-a-Tamarisk-Posters_i13821350_.htm?UPI=PWCVFZ0&PODConfigID=4990719