Grand Canyon Reflections

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Having just experienced the beauty, power and excitement of rafting the Colorado River on our Grand Canyon Adventure, Landmark Events historian Bill Potter offered this personal insight that we thought you would enjoy.

Dispatch from Rim World

hile lying on my cot a mile beneath the surface, next to a roaring river, staring up at the Milky Way, the thought occurred to me that everyone in a hundred yard radius was related to me through common ancestors who were floating in a boat when the Grand Canyon came to be. Most of us likely would trace our genealogy back to a man named Japheth, or for some, perhaps, Shem. In any case, God chose our grandfather Noah to ride above the greatest judgement ever meted out to mankind. A verse from the hymn, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, written by a Free Presbyterian minister from Aberdeen, Scotland, Walter Chalmers Smith, also came to mind:

Unresting, unhasting and silent as light
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above,
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
(sung to the Welsh hymn tune Palestrina)

The canyons of rock layers bespoke of catastrophic judgement — base rock (“day three of creation”) piled high with myriad other layers of sandstone, shale and limestone, frequently coated or injected with basalt — lava. It all exudes an awe-inspiring grandeur that only first-hand viewing can convey. The record of the event of those days comes from the hand of the historian and prophet, Moses, as informed by God Himself. Unlike most ancient historical events, a geological record was left behind that even to this day is astonishing in its complexity, beauty and message. We were privileged to be among the few people who have ever lived to see such a wonder, from the river at its base, and ponder the majesty of God, man’s accountability regarding obedience to His law, and the justice of God like mountains high soaring above.

We rode in little arks of (mostly) safety but the greatest message of the Grand Canyon comes from those few people who rode in The Ark, who, by the shear Grace of God were preserved alive and who became our progenitors. Salvation is truly of the Lord who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.