Yosemite Falls
This morning begins with a drive as we go to Glacier point, a magnificent overlook of the valley. Again, stunning with beautiful views of Half Dome and both Vernal and Nevada Falls. Our first trail of the day is a relatively short (2.2 miles), easy hike to Taft Point. At Glacier point, you have necessary and important guard rails to keep you from falling to your death. At Taft Point no such guard rails, you can walk right up to the edge. If you are afraid of heights, you will soon know. Maybe my greatest fear is not me near the edge falling to my death (or Amber because she won’t go to the edge), but Eli and Josh. I would like them to have a little bit more healthy fear. Before the hike we warn them. On the hike we remind them over and over. I am sure, they are tired of hearing, “You are too close. Step back!” Josh and I lay down. I take off my hat (don’t want to lose it), and crawl up so that we can look over the edge. Wow, it’s beautiful, but that is a long way down.
We often see fear as bad, but fear can be good and healthy. Biblically, we are called to have a fear of the Lord. Many times, we want to perceive that as just being “awestruck” at God’s majesty, but there is more. Awestruck does not capture it all. In this case fear is good. It may help us not to fall off a cliff. Fear of the Lord, not because God is mean, angry, or scary, but because God is Lord, is necessary in following Christ. It is easy to get lax in faith. It is easy to go astray, but at the end of the day God is God and we are not. Maybe that is something we need to remember more often than we realize. God is God and we are not. Walk in God’s ways, follow Christ. Don’t fall off the cliff. Each of us can get lax, go our own way without too much concern. Fear the Lord. God is good.
Up here at Taft Point, Amber gets extremely excited, we see another yellow bellied marmot, and got a good picture. This pose looks exactly like the stuffed animal we bought her.
Next, we travel back down into the valley to Yosemite Falls, the tallest falls in North America at 2,425 feet. Amazingly, we have views of this falls from the balcony of our room. Today, we decide to hike to its base. The views again are stunning (This seems to be getting repetitive.) At the base of the fails, there are signs warning not to go beyond this point and climb the rocks. We go climb the rocks anyway. If you look below, there is only physical evidence of Amber beyond the sign as Josh, Eli and I take her picture. Both of my sons, love to climb, and this is a great place. From a distance, we see a college age kid right at the base of the falls. That is where we want to go. We are off. On the way, either Eli or Josh find a cave-like section of rocks that we crawl through. It borders the roaring water of the river. We make it to the edge, to the base of the falls, stand tall, and now others, I am sure, see us and want to be where we are.
Remember, I talked earlier about the importance of saints. It’s only natural. We see others and want to be where they are, want to have what they have. We see them as examples or as points at which we also want to arrive. This is everywhere. It occurs in society. For the most part humans follow the herd. Maybe that is why Jesus calls us sheep. The heard of society is going in this direction and we trend that way. The person we admire is heading a particular way. We begin to follow. It may not even be a conscious decision. We follow the herd. Thus, if we as Christians do not identify saints or a direction that follows Christ, we will follow another direction. What is guiding your direction? The herd of society or Jesus?
Yosemite has a famous lodge called the Ahwahnee lodge. It is too expensive for us to stay here even on a Lilly Grant. Thus, before we left, Amber got us reservations for dinner. It is a beautiful old lodge with character. The food was good too. More to our liking than Eli and Josh. This concludes another great day.
We often see fear as bad, but fear can be good and healthy. Biblically, we are called to have a fear of the Lord. Many times, we want to perceive that as just being “awestruck” at God’s majesty, but there is more. Awestruck does not capture it all. In this case fear is good. It may help us not to fall off a cliff. Fear of the Lord, not because God is mean, angry, or scary, but because God is Lord, is necessary in following Christ. It is easy to get lax in faith. It is easy to go astray, but at the end of the day God is God and we are not. Maybe that is something we need to remember more often than we realize. God is God and we are not. Walk in God’s ways, follow Christ. Don’t fall off the cliff. Each of us can get lax, go our own way without too much concern. Fear the Lord. God is good.
Up here at Taft Point, Amber gets extremely excited, we see another yellow bellied marmot, and got a good picture. This pose looks exactly like the stuffed animal we bought her.
Next, we travel back down into the valley to Yosemite Falls, the tallest falls in North America at 2,425 feet. Amazingly, we have views of this falls from the balcony of our room. Today, we decide to hike to its base. The views again are stunning (This seems to be getting repetitive.) At the base of the fails, there are signs warning not to go beyond this point and climb the rocks. We go climb the rocks anyway. If you look below, there is only physical evidence of Amber beyond the sign as Josh, Eli and I take her picture. Both of my sons, love to climb, and this is a great place. From a distance, we see a college age kid right at the base of the falls. That is where we want to go. We are off. On the way, either Eli or Josh find a cave-like section of rocks that we crawl through. It borders the roaring water of the river. We make it to the edge, to the base of the falls, stand tall, and now others, I am sure, see us and want to be where we are.
Remember, I talked earlier about the importance of saints. It’s only natural. We see others and want to be where they are, want to have what they have. We see them as examples or as points at which we also want to arrive. This is everywhere. It occurs in society. For the most part humans follow the herd. Maybe that is why Jesus calls us sheep. The heard of society is going in this direction and we trend that way. The person we admire is heading a particular way. We begin to follow. It may not even be a conscious decision. We follow the herd. Thus, if we as Christians do not identify saints or a direction that follows Christ, we will follow another direction. What is guiding your direction? The herd of society or Jesus?
Yosemite has a famous lodge called the Ahwahnee lodge. It is too expensive for us to stay here even on a Lilly Grant. Thus, before we left, Amber got us reservations for dinner. It is a beautiful old lodge with character. The food was good too. More to our liking than Eli and Josh. This concludes another great day.
