Drawing Near At The Grand Canyon
“Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.” George Will
In mid-July of 2024 I had the opportunity to travel to the Grand Canyon. My journey was 1770 miles, and over 25 hours from my home in Chattanooga, Tennessee! I actually live in Ooltewah, a community near Chattanooga, but very few people can pronounce that old Indian word. It is actually quite comical listening to folks as they try to sound it out, so I usually just say Chattanooga! Some have trouble making that word out too, but it seems to be the easier of the two. I am glad I do not live in Neahkahnie, Oregon or Keosauqua, Iowa.
I was going to be out west on a mission trip anyway working on an Apache Indian Reservation, so I decided to add two weeks of sightseeing. After a wonderful week serving with the Ekklesia Fellowship Church in McNary, Arizona, our mission team packed up and headed east. My wife, son, and I packed and headed north west toward the canyon.
I had seen pictures and had watched numerous documentaries about the Grand Canyon, but had often heard that the pictures do not do it justice. We arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park around two in the afternoon and wasted no time making our way to the South Rim. I can echo what I have heard over and over: the pictures do not do it justice! This chasm is close to 5000 feet deep and 18 miles wide. It covers 1.2 million acres. It is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. No wonder over 6 million people travel each year to see it!
We spent a couple of hours taking in the views and then after dinner made our way to the Grand Canyon Plaza. The next day, Leslie and Scooter took a zero day chilling at the hotel and I returned to the canyon at sunrise. The sunrise was truly breathtaking! About a hundred other folks had also awakened early, looking east to capture the dawn in pictures. After sunrise I decided to hike. After seven miles of some of the most incredible views I have ever seen, I found a bench. It wasn’t a church pew, but I had church! I sat for two solid hours just staring. I could not take my eyes off of the nearly mile deep ravine.
It was during this time that I was able to DRAW NEAR at the CANYON! I prayed, I praised, I marveled, I thought, and I quoted scripture. I sat on that bench and chuckled as I remembered something my dad had told me 45 years earlier. He said that two men were standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and the first man said, “Wow! How awesome is our God?” My father said that man continued, “He stepped out on nothing and created everything… What a mighty God we serve!” Dad said, the other man proclaimed, “Look I can spit a mile!” My dad looked at me and said, “Tony, be a worshipper and not a spitter!” My dad, the great philosopher!
I worshipped for sure that day. I DREW NEAR! If we will draw near to God, God will draw near to us.
