Twin Lakes from near the Winchester Fire Lookout, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington
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 fields of grass or crops. The Rockies are craggy peaks, but just beyond are desert buttes and rock formations. Drive south into the desert filled with sage brush and cacti, or continue west through more desert and mountains to rocky and sandy sea coasts, rain forests, and volcanos. And that’s just scratching the surface of the different scenes that meet the eye just on major highways.
Floras Lake Beach, Oregon
Every trip we take across the country we see something new. We get a better appreciation for the land we live in, for the earth that God created in infinite variety. We experience it and find it still has more that we haven’t yet seen.
Spires in Elephant Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Our life with God is a bit like journeys across the continent. We’re constantly finding ourselves in new places, both in our spiritual and more physical life. We’re constantly experiencing new landscapes and new sights and sounds.
Fields near the Genesee Valley Greenway, New York
But like experience of the American wilderness, we walk out of each experience in life – and in Christ – with a better understanding of just Who God is and how He works. Our relationship grows deeper because we are discovering Him and His nature in us and to us.
Flattop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
It’s sort of like the Zealand Worship song:
Every test we go through
Our roots grow stronger and deeper into You
And though the rain, it may not fall
Our leaves turn greener than they ever were before
Cause You are good
Near the trailhead for Bull Pasture, Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona
Experience brings us closer to the thing we are experiencing. So if we are experiencing mountains, our hearts will be drawn to the mountains. If we are experiencing rock formations, we will revel in rock formations. (That or we’ll get tired of it and long for something else!)
Double Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Experience also brings us closer to God and specific attributes of His character. If we are experiencing the peace of God, than we will be brought closer to the reality that God is peace. The opposite is also true. If we are experiencing something that is not in line with the fruits of the Spirit – for example, sadness – if we press into God for His joy, we will actually experience God as the joy-giver.
Avalanche lilies and Mt. Baker on Skyline Divide, Washington
Like the incredible variety of the American West that always seems to have more to give in terms of something new, there is always more of God to discover or at least to experience more fully.