8...Day 32 ...awe! (B):

OK...let's try this again...and see just how much of Yellowstone we can cover on this attempt.  I'll confess later as to why I was feeling a bit chagrined as Judy took this picture...but...here we are...at long last.

Many reading this will not be old enough to remember the devastating wildfires that seemed to explode through Yellowstone Park in 1988...19 years ago.  Some were unfortunately set by careless campers.  Some were God's doing from His lightening that summer.  All conspired to create a landscape that is at times is full of extraordinary beauty...and at times the scars of the past remain solemn reminders of past days and actions.  Even the starkness has a beauty, of sorts.

But...even in the seeming worst of tragedy...life remains...begins again...keeps going  The picture shows the remaining scars where little is growing still because of how scorched the earth was from the heat.

Then I turned around 180 degrees and this little charmer of a tree, plus a few dozen cousins, had determined that it would not succumb to the powers that be...and life began again.  The tenacity of regrowth out of tragedy was also rampant as we entered the park today.

In my love of all kinds of art, there are some grand masters of Western Art.  Bierstadt, Moran, Remington, all painted in and around these parts, as well as a host of others.  They had to trek in here via mule and horse, camp in all kinds of hard primitive conditions, set up their easels, and paint masterpieces.  Seeing Lower Yellowstone Falls again...they came close to getting it right.  Any guesses as to why the Indians of the area named the area after the color of the rocks?...which today did cry out about the glory of God...over and over again...with each twist and turn of the road.

Here's my new birthday vehicle.  Well...just kidding...but it's fun to know that the company that runs the concessions and hotels and tours in the park is refurbishing eight of the olde touring buses from long ago (1930s and 40s).  Once upon a time there were over 300 of these buses which took people around to see the geysers, grizzlys and great vistas.

Well, friends, we've got to roll...and we're not even half way done with our magnificent day at Yellowstone.   It was supposed to be stormy in here today...but wow!!!...the weather has been beyond beautiful  Yet...I'm reminded that the rain does fall on the just...and the unjust...and fire happens...and God's glory is just that...God's!!!...in the midst of it all.

Comments

[Mary Jo]

Yellowstone certainly is an awesome place to see the beauty of God's creation -- the evidence of destruction -- and the wonder of His restoring power after devastation. How like His work in our lives! By the way, did you know that over one-third of Yellowstone Park is actually a collapsed volcanic caldera? HUGE compared to Mt. St. Helens -- yet what beauty God has brought out of this devastating geologic event.

[Mike Lundberg]

Wes and Judy, It was good to see you traveling across northern Wyoming. When I saw that picture of Buffalo Bill's resevior it brought back a flood of great memories. West of that reservior you passed through a little town called Wapiti, (native name for elk) where Mary's sister lives. The tree you show in a recovering burn area in Yellowstone is lodgepole pine. Thesse trees have serotinous cones that only open during intense heat like a fire. So God in his sovereignty and in his foreknowledge knew that new life springs or regenerates from the death of the old. The new forest in Yellowstone is now healthy and not stagnant (or doghair as foresters refer to it)prior to the fire. Your ministry, likewise, is causing much new life to spring forth among once "doghair" Christian leaders. Thank you and have a great trip.