When Cancelled Plans Lead to a Better Path

21 Oct

Jason Mooney Falls

Often plans don’t go according to our schedule. Disappointments, delays, and roadblocks often test our ability to give thanks in all circumstances. A detour can threaten our peace of mind and unsettle our spirits. No doubt anyone who has lived a very short time can identify with disappointment…even kindergartners cry, “that’s not fair!”

Occasionally overturned plans lead to better paths.

Jason and Heather Horseshoe Bend

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So was the case with our trip to Arizona with Going the Distance Adventure Ministries (GTD). Leader and ministry founder, Doug Garner, joked he feared the government shutdown would lead to a Grand Canyonless trip to Arizona. However, due to Doug’s tenacity, tireless efforts, and the Lord’s blessing, we were able to experience abundantly more than Plan A had allowed for.

Initially, our itinerary included the choice of a  day hike to Plateau Point or a ride to the North Rim to conquer the 26 mile Rim to Rim hike in one day. Many of us had trained for months for this chance of a lifetime hike from Rim to Rim. We also planned hours of rest and relaxation in Williams, Flagstaff, and Sedona, Arizona. Conversely, with the government shutdown here is what we were able to experience as Doug’s Plan B:

  • Hiking (22 miles) and Camping in the Supai Indian portion of the Grand Canyon with the breathtaking views of Havasu Falls and Mooney Falls (which towers 26 feet above Niagara).

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Ron Havasu Falls

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Mooney Falls

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  • Horseshoe Bend

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Brooke at Horseshoe Bend

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  • Antelope Canyon

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  • Flagstaff and Williams, Arizona

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  • Bell Rock in Sedona, Arizona

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Interspersed between all of these beautiful sights was apologetic teachings on the world wide flood and the subsequent formation of one of the world’s natural wonders, the Grand Canyon by Dr. Aaron Walp. After two years listening to Dr. Walp’s teachings and a year of bits and pieces reading on my own, I can confidently say that the rocks are crying out to the glory of God. It is the glory of man to study and understand the story the rocks are telling.

It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them. (Proverbs 25:2, NLT)

As we have settled back into our “normal routines” I have pondered the lessons learned on our adventure. There are many to share, and many more pictures to help illustrate the lessons. I can’t wait to weave the stories and the spiritual truths together over the next few weeks with you as I share our pictures.

In the face of unexpected changes and revealed truths, God answers our prayers in His own way and time to bring about the most glory for Himself from all the nations.

Praise you Lord Jesus for safe travel and a Plan B that exceeded our expectations!

O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings! (Psalm 61:1-4, NLT)

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*Special thanks to my fellow GTD friends for the use of a few of these photos.

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When Plans Don’t Work Out

4 Oct

Last year Ron and I traveled to the Grand Canyon with 5 other people through a ministry called Going the Distance Adventure Ministries. You must know, the trip was an unspoken bucket list item checked off. We hiked the 12 mile round trip Bright Angel Trail out to the Plateau Point. It was a beautiful, slightly challenging hike that thrilled my adventure seeking heart.

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But that is only part of the story.

Three men from our team hiked the 25 mile Rim to Rim hike…in one day. I really wanted to attempt this hike, but was slightly discouraged by the sincere questions of people as to whether I was up for the challenge. I decided that I should start with the “easier’ hike first.

The taste  of the Rim to Rim hike has been ever on my mind for 11 months now. I began working-out harder almost immediately after our return last October and even started CrossFit Workouts of the Day between 4-6 months ago. Additionally, the StairMaster plus a 15 lb. kettle bell and I have become friends. I use the term friend loosely here.

Imagine my dismay and utter disappointment when the Government Shutdown earlier this week included the shut down of all the national parks. That meant my Rim to Rim hike with GTD would have to be routed to hikes outside of the Grand Canyon.

Don’t get me wrong, the revenue loss alone is a reason to be upset about the closing of all national parks. However, consider the individual stories that are being rewritten as a result of this standoff. Wedding cancellations, war veterans meeting up with their comrades for the first time in decades are left with dashed plans, and costly family vacation plans impacted.

Sometimes our plans don’t work out.

What do we do next? Well, in my case, I consider what my plans have cost me to date. I am in better physical condition than I was this time last year, Ron and I still get a few days away, great flood geology teaching, and Sedona red rocks will be equally exquisite as last year. However, there remains a goal unmet, a dream unrealized.

You would think I would quit training, right?

Wrong! I am continuing to train.I am confident my preparation will be met with opportunity.

It is much like this blog. When I first started my readership was significantly less than the present. The audience size didn’t affect my output in writing quality and desire to do my best job every time.In fact, days before my editor over at iBelieve contacted me about partnering with them, I told Ron, “I post and write the best I can as frequently as I can so that one day if opportunity arises for growth, I will be ready.”

In the spiritual, as in the physical, we can put off training for heaven as our eternal home because we are duped into thinking this life is longer than the breath we have. However, we are to live with an eternal mindset, everyday, so that when the opportunity to step into the heavenly realm signals with the end of our mortal lives we have done the work and finished our race in top shape…with fewer regrets.

We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

Wherever it is that I hike in the next two weeks, I am confidant that the Lord ordered the steps that I will take, the path I will follow, and the people that I will walk it with. I am so thankful that the Lord gives us the desires of our hearts and then throws in some twists and turns in our stories as well.

What have you learned from plans that didn’t work out?

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Studying Rocks was Never So Cool

9 Nov

Remember back in high school to earth science class. Those boxes with multiple dividers and a plethora of rocks different colors and hues were about as interesting to me as, well…a pile of rocks. Learning the names of rocks was one of my least favorite parts of school.

Now fast forward 13 years, I am actually learning about rock formations in my “free time.” The fingerprints of God are all over the mountain ranges, caverns, and canyons of the world.

Did you know that the major mountain ranges of the earth were formed as a result of the flood? The world-wide judgement upon the wickedness of man brought forth the most breathtaking views we see world-wide. (Read about the Hydroplate Theory here.)

You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they (the waters) might not again cover the earth. ~Psalm 104:6-9 (emphasis mine)

Ron and I recently traveled to the Grand Canyon. While the Grand Canyon was not formed during the flood, it is proposed that the flood left “postflood lakes in every continental basin.”* Two of these lakes Dr. Walt Brown refers to as the Grand Lake and the Hopi Lake (view here). He proposes that that the Grand Lake breached its southwest boundary, causing Hopi Lake to also breach. “Escaping waters spilled off the western edge of the Colorado Plateau, first stripping off the soft Mesozoic sediments south and west of the lakes (the Great Denudation).” * The result? The Grand Canyon was carved in weeks.

Yes, you read that right…weeks. (Please read Dr. Brown’s theory for yourself. Click here. I have written the most brief summary imaginable.)

The Grand Canyon was carved in weeks and the Colorado River was born–“a consequence, not the cause, of the carving of the Grand Canyon.”*

Why am I telling you all of this? First, because you should go to the Grand Canyon for yourself with Going the Distance Adventure Ministries and simultaneously view and learn the after effects of the world-wide flood with the teachings of Dr. Aaron Walp. Secondly, I want you to consider the judgement of God. Why does it come and what does it communicate to a lost and dying world?

In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul…For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD. O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. ~Isaiah 26:3-11

God brings judgement on the people of the earth so that they might learn righteousness. He loves us, and the renown of His Name, too much to leave us wallowing in the mire of our sins; both individually and as the Body of Christ, the church. We can either continue to look at the warning signs of our righteous, loving, and holy God as obstacles to overcome or as a call to humility and repentance. God does not work without cause (Ezekiel 14:23).

Today, the same God who formed mountains and carved canyons to bring judgement and display His holy wrath, desires that His people live according to His word.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. ~Matthew 24:37-39, 44

 

 

*Walt Brown, Ph.D. (2008). In the Beginning Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood (8th Edition ed.).

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