Last week I had the opportunity to attend a rather large conference. The worship leaders were world-renowned, and I was excited to worship with them. It was a great experience; and I had a lot of fun as well as…

Defender

Hiking to Williams Lake, New Mexico
I wanted to climb Wheeler Peak. It’s not just that I liked the pictures others had taken from the top – I figured climbing the highest point in New Mexico would be fun. It would be an accomplishment. It would…

We Don’t Always Have a Map
I try to prepare for hikes. Before we leave home, I’ll try to have a trail description, a map, if possible, and better yet, to have the necessary maps downloaded on my GPS. But sometimes I forget, or I think…

The Best Day Hikes in Yosemite National Park (to beat the crowds)
I love the scenery of Yosemite: Towering waterfalls, towering trees, sheer cliffs, rocky domes, and the peaks of the High Sierras. It’s a view junkie’s paradise. But I don’t like the crowds. There’s no place to park, no…

Experience Brings Us Closer
As we traipse across America on our cross-continent adventures, we find a wide variety of scenery. There is the Midwest with its green farmland. There are the Great Plains, nearly flat for as far as the eye can see, waving…

Point Arena Lighthouse Overlook
I’ll admit it, I didn’t pay to see the Point Arena Lighthouse. I’m sure it cool, but I didn’t feel like shelling out $25 (or $7.50/person) to drive in, walk around, maybe climb the tower, and leave. It wasn’t worth…

God is Constant
I wrote last week about how the variety we see in scenery shows us the infinite mind of the Creator of the universe. Because we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) we have access to His infinite creativity,…

Driving (Part of) the Whitmore Trail
I read about a 2 mile trail – round trip – to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The pictures were epic. The trail didn’t even look that steep. The only thing standing between me and the trail was a…

Infinite Creativity with Mind of Christ
One of the great things about living in a country as large and as varied as America is that I have access to so many different landscapes. There are low mountains – I’d call those hills – tall peaks, rocky…

Rest is Hope
The past few weeks I’ve been talking about finding rest and quietness for our hearts in the wilderness, then sustaining that rest and quietness once we return to our normal lives. The Israelites were in the wilderness, but they did…