View from Point Loma Nazarene University, where my stepsister works and where I stopped by for some free wi-fi.
I’ve been hanging around in San Diego for a few days after the medical conference. While I really enjoy being with other people, the past six weeks were really intense. I had two days mostly to myself this weekend. One night I was reading Donald Miller’s Through Painted Deserts, which is about a road trip he took from Texas to Oregon. He reminded me a lot of my friend Jacquelyn, who experiences spiritual things much more clearly when surrounded by nature. I think most of us are more connected with the deeper things in the universe when surrounded by a beautiful woods or desert, but Jacquelyn intentionally seeks this out so that she can re-charge. A wise woman.
A one point in the book the author is outside waiting for the sunrise in Oregon and he writes:
These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man’s weak praise should be given God’s attention.
When Jesus road into Jerusalem on the day now known as Palm Sunday, his followers started shouting like crazy. Dr. Luke writes that they were praising God and rejoicing “with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,” and some of the religious leaders told Jesus to make them hush. He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Southern California is a wonderful place to praise God. Inspired by the readings, I went to Torrey Pines on Saturday. I hiked and ran on trails through scrubby pine with a view of cliffs and ocean. Then I watched the sunset over the water on a sandy beach. Last night I jogged on the boardwalk at Pacific Beach, one of my favorite places here: it’s a mix of beautiful beach and funky people. There I ran with my IPod, but could still hear the waves. It makes me think about how it’s true that we really need to be re-charged in nature and re-connect with a much deeper spirituality, in part because we are then able to have the vision to see God in the people around us. So on one side of me was the ocean just after sunset with the constant pounding of waves, and on the other side were children, beach bums, and frat boys, all bearing the image of God.
