Well, it took me a lot longer to post this than I had hoped, I apologize for those of you who were waiting earnestly for me to post again.
After our visit to the painted desert and petrified forest, we made our way to Bryce Canyon. This was originally meant to be simply a travel day, but we made two impromptu stops (I might add, the best kinds).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our first stop was at Sunset Crater, the site of a dormant volcano and lava flow. This was one of the coolest things for me. As a kid, me and my brother watched tons of National Geographic earthquake and volcano videos. To see this stuff in real life was really, really cool. The lava flow above was a result of the volcano below, of which you can see the crater.
There were several other interesting sights in this park showing geological processes, including some geological buckling of the lava flow, as you can see to the right.
Note: just seeing these pictures on the internet does not do justice to the actual sight. Every single sight captured in these photos, in one way or another, was breathtaking in real life.
After our stop at Sunset Crater, we also passed the Glen Canyon dam. This dam is along the Colorado River, the same one that passes through and carves the Grand Canyon. It is north of the Grand Canyon, and provides some spectacular desert views.
Apart from the breathtaking landscape, the Glen Canyon Dam is certainly an engineering marvel. As someone who is studying Civil Engineering, I found the dam to be a marvelous sight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After making these two stops, we continued our journey north into Bryce Canyon in Utah, our first major stop. Bryce Canyon is known for its signature red rocks, which make beautiful structures known as hoodoos. These hoodoos make Bryce Canyon a very interesting visit.
Bryce Canyon is known for several landmarks in particular. The first of these is Thor's Hammer, as you can see below. You may have seen this momentous rock in pictures at one time or another.
Another cool sight in Bryce Canyon is this arch, which is created by many years of erosion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While spending our day in Bryce Canyon, we hiked in the morning and visited several overlooks in the afternoon. Talk about eye candy: these sights were amazing. The hoodoo lined horizon was quite captivating; more so than could ever be taken with a picture. Under normal conditions, I am not a huge hiking fan (or Viking fan for that matter). However, due to the amazing views, this was the best hiking I had ever experienced.
When looking over the red and pink rocks, one notices something very interesting: along the top of every hoodoo, there is a layer of white rock that runs across every hoodoo at approximately the same elevation everywhere. This layer of white rock is called dolomite. It has special minerals inside of it that make it more resistant to erosion than the red rock underneath. Because of this, it acts as a 'hard hat' to the hoodoo. You can see the top white rocks below.
As rain and snow slowly erode at the rock, waves begin to emerge as the layers of harder rock protrude beyond the softer rock. Eventually, a layer of soft rock will completely erode, leaving the rocks above it to topple over, including the dolomite. From there, without a dolomite 'hard hat', the hoodoo will erode and disappear fairly quickly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, it's book time.
I mentioned in my last post that each of these three books had one unifying theme, and that was Christianity as a lifestyle instead of simply a collection of religious beliefs. To be more specific, I would say that each of these three books develop this Biblical theme: faith without works is dead.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book
Cost of Discipleship, develops this theme with a distinction between cheap grace and costly grace. Bonhoeffer notes that churches often promote cheap grace. This type of grace, when accepted, does not have any bearing on one's actions in life. This cheap grace is commonly promoted as fire insurance and a 'get out of hell free' card. Or it may be promoted as a way to achieve all of your financial or emotional goals. Most of all, it says that you have a chance to go to heaven while only having to go to a special building on Sunday for a couple hours a week! How easy? Who wouldn't buy into this idea?
However, according to Bonhoeffer, grace is informed by 1 Corinthians 9:16: "you were bought at a price". The fact is, our renewed relationship with God cost a great deal to God, including the death of his own son. Do we really grasp that? You know that means? It is going to cost you a lot. There is a lot at stake. This deal is pretty pricey.
But you get what you pay for.
And more.
When grace is seen in this Biblical way, it becomes more than a doctrine. It becomes a way of life, an all-encompassing motivation based on a real life event in history. It's a grace that demands our full attention because of its momentous impact. Additionally, Bonhoeffer notes, the wonderful part about this grace is that it gives us the grace to serve Jesus, instead of the unfulfilling idols of fame, and money. Even the grace is gracious.
Amazing, grandeurous, grace.
