“The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” – Psalm 29:3-4

The Western Adventure continues:

Moving south from Big Sky Montana we headed to Idaho and Wyoming to visit the ‘Hope Diamond’ of National parks – the great Yellowstone. Secondarily, we would visit the adjacent Grand Teton Mountains.

In spite of all the information and maps available, I thought the RV Park we were scheduled to stay at in Eastern Idaho was most central to both National Parks. It wasn’t. We were a bit deflated when we realized that there was going to be a lot of backtracking and wasted time to get into Yellowstone.

Spending time in Yellowstone was supposed to be the crowning jewel and culmination of our National Park visits. What would we do? We rearrange our schedule. While in Idaho, we

took advantage of what was there and drove through the beautiful Mesa Falls scenic by-way and hiked through its magnificent upper and lower waterfalls. The next day, instead of tackling Yellowstone first we spent the day at The Grand Teton Mountains. I’m embarrassed to say that I knew little about the Tetons.

What can we say now of the Tetons? Jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, magnificent, stupendous and every other superlative that cannot begin to capture the majesty of ‘0nly God could come up with this’ phenomenon.

As we drove through and hiked different locations, every new angle revealed God’s glory even more majestically than the last. Later in the day we stopped for a picnic and a swim at Jenny Lake under the shadows of the hulking Tetons.

Driving out of the park we stopped at the log cabin ‘Chapel of the Transfiguration’ with its sanctuary looking out at the breathtaking Grand Teton. The chapel has continued to serve the surrounding community since the early 1900’s.

It was a truly fantastic day that concluded with Independence Day fireworks at the Jackson Hole Ski Mountain.

On To Yellowstone

The next day we had to tackle how we would best capture all of Yellowstone – covering a landmass roughly the size of Rhode Island in 2 days. We decided that the first day we would drive back north 2 hours to enter through the town of West Yellowstone, spend the day covering as much as we could in the park and then see if we could find an available hotel room in jam-packed West Yellowstone. Miraculously we did.

That first day we entered into the massive park and had to decide which way to go. We said a little prayer and headed south. The first thing we did was drive into a little one-way road and then took a short hike to the location known as Virginia Cascades.

The Miracle at the Cascades

The Cascade is over 60 feet of loping, gently descending waterfall on the Gibbon River. It creates a small gorge that cuts through a heavy woodland. The sun was shimmering on the bubbling water. It was so peaceful and serene that we sat and enjoyed the surrounding in spite of my impulse to move quickly to capture as much of the park as possible.

Then the Miracle Happened.

As you might know by the very purpose of this blog that I’m a believer in a living God that desires to be active and interactive in our lives. A God that shows up to the point of doing things beyond our imagination. Personally, I don’t like to overuse or exploit every natural occurrence as a miracle but I’m starting to consider if I should more often.

I don’t expect that anyone else might see this as a miracle but as we lingered, the name of the location circled in my mind – Virginia Cascades. Hmm, Virginia?

I turned to Eleni and asked, “What day is it?” She checked her phone. It was July 6th. I followed up,”When is our neighbor, Virginia due to be induced into labor?”

Eleni jumped up and shouted, “Oh my gosh! Today!”

We lifted up a prayer for our neighbors. Eleni took a video of the waterfall and we sent it with a text to let them know where we were and that we were praying for them.

Why do I consider this a miracle?

If you are familiar with my previous posts then you may remember my post back on January 15 entitled, Laying hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold OF me. It was about these same neighbors who had experienced the tragedy of an intra-uterine fetal death with their first child – delivering their baby who had died the day before in the womb.

In spite of that traumatic experience, God was gracious enough and they were courageous enough to almost immediately get pregnant again.

Before we left on the trip, they gave us the date when they would be induced – July 6th. We were so focussed on our trip schedule that the date had slipped by us. What did God do? He frustrated us into changing our schedule so on that morning we would be in this relatively obscure location in this massive park. The place called Virginia Cascades.

God knew what was on our hearts even while being so self-absorbed, managing our tight schedule and totally focused on our time and resources in the midst of enjoying God’s creation. He broke through to faithfully create the opportunity for us to remember.

We spent the rest of the day traveling through Yellowstone praying for our neighbors and checking in as the time clicked by. Given their previous experience we prayed that God would be generous and faithful to His word. Please God, not another disappointment.

Enjoying the Great Yellowstone

For the 2 days we drove and hiked our way through Yellowstone enjoying sightings of Bear, Antelope, and herds of the massive Bison. The mountains, valleys, waterfalls and deep gorges were spectacular. ‘Old Faithful’ blew his stack for us highlighting the fact that most of Yellowstone is a volcanic cap where two thirds of the entire world’s geysers let off steam. If/when this volcano blows it will take out most of the Western United States. How’s that for a bit of sobering news? (Hearing that made me wonder if we shouldn’t move a little more quickly through Yellowstone?)

Thinking about that drew me to Psalm 29 referenced above where it says in verses 4-8 – ‘The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. . . The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;” If/when that cataclysmic event ever occurs it won’t be man-made. It won’t even be a ‘natural’ occurrence. It will be by the power of God’s voice.

Back to the Miracle of Virginia Cascades:

On that first day as we moved through the park we anxiously waited to hear back from our neighbors. It took a while. We prayed through our fear that it was indication of something wrong. Finally, we received word that a baby girl was born and that both mother and child were doing well.

Speaking of “Old Faithful”! How faithful and reliable is our God? Thank you God!

Psalm 29 continues in verse 9 to say that “the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth”. It is the power of God’s voice that can make this all happen. Even while it shakes the foundations of the earth and “strips the forests bare” His power brings forth new life.

Psalm 29 concludes – “And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

We pray for this strength, and blessings of peace for Fiona and her parents. The same blessings her older sister, Olivia now enjoys with our loving God in Heaven!

And in His temple (of which the Beauty of the Great Yellowstone and Majestic Tetons might just be a small sampling) where the Lord sits as King forever . . .

everyone says, “Glory!”

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From there we headed further south back through Wyoming to Colorado and to Rocky Mountain National Park. My Nephew’s wedding in Breckenridge awaited and we fully expected that this Cascade of adventures would continue.