Seeing Creation

Yesterday I flew west in order to do some photography in southern Utah.  I have been out to this area numerous times and really enjoy “red rock” country.  I’m traveling with a friend, Steve Ausmus, who has not been to this area before.  Even though it had been a very long day and my back was hurting me, we decided upon arriving in Moab that we would go into Arches National Park and hike to Delicate Arch for sunset.  The picture here is one I took last evening. 

This is the third time I’ve been at Delicate Arch for sunset.  Some might question why I would make the effort to hike the mile and a half to the arch having done it two times before.  My response would be that each time you go it’s different.  I’ve not been here before in December so it was nice to see snow on the La Sal mountains behind Delicate Arch.  But there are other reasons I return to places I’ve been before.  Hopefully each time I go back I’m a little better at my craft and can compose nicer images.  Furthermore, each time I go back I’m different.  I will not see things quite the same way I did five or ten years ago. 

There are people who visit an area and then check it off their list.  They have no intention of going back;  they’ve “been there, done that.”  This attitude seems foolish to me.  As much as I enjoy visiting new places I love to revisit old ones too.  My appreciation and understanding of those areas grow with each visit.   It’s not all that different from my experience with Scripture.  Each time I go back and read one of the books in the Bible I’ve read before I find new truth or meaning.  Why?  Because I’ve changed since the last time I read that passage or I find myself in new circumstances.  It would be crazy for me to say that since I’ve read the Book of Psalms I’ll not read it anymore. 

 Try to avoid the “been there, done that” mentality.  In God’s Creation there are blessings that can come only by making repeated visits to places you have been before.

 –Chuck

(The bottom picture I took this evening in Arches National Park near the Fiery Furnace area.)