All posts tagged Rocky Mountain National Park

  • God’s Love In Granite

    Mills

    God’s Love In Granite
    Brian Zahnd

    The Bible opens with a creation narrative and the constant refrain is the goodness of it all. In the first chapter of Genesis God declares every day as good. The third day (the day life begins) is declared good twice. On the sixth day of creation we are told, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

    The ancient Hebrew account of the entire goodness of creation stands in stark contrast to the pagan creation stories where the world comes into existence amidst the chaos of a great struggle between good and evil. In the rival myths of the ancient world, evil plays a role in creation. The first great revelation of the Hebrew scriptures is that the universe flows entirely from the goodness of God; evil played no part in God’s good creation.
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  • A Dusting of Snow During a Bloody Summer

    IMG_1205

    A Dusting of Snow During a Bloody Summer
    Brian Zahnd

    It’s been a bloody summer. In Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Nigeria, and the Ukraine.
    Kill the bad guys and there will be peace is the tired refrain.
    All sides say it. Ad infinitum.

    (I didn’t even mention the bloody streets of America, to which we have grown so numb.)

    But I am where I always hope to be this time of year: In the mountains that I love.

    When I hike above treeline onto the great expanse of the high tundra my soul finds room for expansion. I’m no longer hemmed in by the din from the reactive ideologues. I find time and space to pray and think.

    And as I pray and think, I know this…

    Creation is good. Very good. It bears witness to its Creator, who is good too.

    In our primitive dread we imagine a god who is petulant and hard to please, vindictive and retributive, capricious and cruel. But these are only petty projections born of our own fear.

    The mystics (and maybe the mountaineers) know better.

    When I can clear my head, I know better. High on the tundra between Longs Peak and the Never Summer Mountains I know the greatest of all truth: God is Love.
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  • No walk in the park

  • Highlands


    Philip in the highlands

    Peri, Philip and I spend Memorial Day well above treeline.

    My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I roam.

    Highlands. I love this song. It’s long. 16 minutes and 32 seconds. So slow down and enjoy life.

    Enjoy Life. That’s what I’ll preach on Friday night. When we return from the highlands.

    My heart’s in the Highlands, can’t see any other way to go.

    Blessings,

    BZ

    Here’s the tune…
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  • Planet Romonapa

    “No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied—
    it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.” -Ansel Adams

    It’s that time of year again. Time for our annual summer sojourn on Planet Romonapa. That’s what we call our beloved Rocky Mountain National Park. We’re in shape and ready to hike, climb, backpack and camp in the high country. I look forward to our annual family vacation in Rocky Mountain National Park all year long. It restores my soul in a way I cannot fully explain.

    Here are some pictures from our vacation on Planet Romonapa last year.
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