A Grand Tour

Good day!
Today...ah, where do I start? Not knowing what time it is for the last 24 hours? The beautiful canyon next to me? The soreness in my shoulders after a 12 mile hike? The crazy songs and thoughts that ran through my head as I hiked? There is just too much to tell!

Well, I guess the time issue is ... strange. I got to the Grand Canyon yesterday and went to call home. My Cell Phone had switched to Pacific time, but I was pretty sure I was still in Mountain time. It didn't phase me, so I just went about my business. But, this morning, I was planning a long hike and wanted to be going down the canyon as the sun was rising. Well, a flyer said the sun would rise at 6 a.m., so I thought I would be smart and wake up at 5, Mountain Time. The alarm went off and I thought, "Boy, it's aweful dark for only being an hour from sunrise." The stars were bright and the night was cool, so I slept a little more. When my clock got to about 6 Mountain Time I headed out and was going down the trail at about 6:50, Mountain Time. Well, the sun came up at about 7, Mountain Time, but the flyer said it was going to rise at 6 and supposedly, all those times were in Mountain Time. To this point, I still don't know what time it is. This computer says 2:55, but I don't know which time zone...ah! So confusing!

Anyway, I ended up hiking about 6 miles down into the canyon, which dropped, vertically, about 3,000 feet. From that spot, I was not to the bottom, but I had some awesome views of the Colorado River. At that time, I think it was about 9 (?), it was about 92 degrees in the shade. So, I started hiking back up. On the way up, I had many random songs running through my head, and most of them were from Dordt Choir this past year... Pai Duli (ya, that's right, Pai Duli), Bright Morning Stars... it was so random! But, I also did a lot of thinking and reflection on the way up, but there is not enought space to get into that. If only I could record my thoughts and just post those. It would be way more interesting.

Basically, God is good and his creation is awesome! I'm tired and sore and covered in dust, but it was a great day of talking with random people, hearing exclamations in all kinds of languages and reflection on God and his creation. It was good.

God bless you all!

Tim