Seeing God in America’s National Parks

Note: I wrote and posted this piece on my Facebook page back in fall 2009, right before the premiere of “National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” This was several months before going on my first backpacking trip and long before starting Reboot. I stumbled upon it recently and found it interesting that the main idea behind this idea is at the center of Reboot. It’s interesting to look back now and see how God had already been working in my heart about connecting to him through nature with many of the distractions of the modern world removed.

West Thumb basin at Yellowstone National Park.

Starting Sunday, PBS is airing the newest Ken Burns documentary, “National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” I am really excited to see the documentary because I agree wholeheartedly with the title. I am thankful that our ancestors had the wisdom and foresight to preserve these amazing wilderness areas for “the benefit and enjoyment of the people” instead of commercialization. It got me thinking about something:

I love technology as much as the next person. I check my e-mail about 900 times a day it seems. My cell phone is always on, and I love keeping up with friends on Facebook. But our increasing reliance on technology leaves us disconnected with something that is around us but seems too often forgotten: Nature.

Many times I never felt closer to God than I have when out in nature marveling at His creation. My favorite place in the world is Yellowstone National Park where it is routine to find hiking trails blocked by herds of buffalo, come upon a bear or moose grazing for food near the road and see geysers shooting hot water thousands of feet in the air or hot springs colored deep blue and brilliant yellow from microscopic algae . That’s not to mention the miles of lodgepole pine forests, an immense lake, a canyon whose beauty is only surpassed by the Grand Canyon and several peaceful, grassy valleys carved by glaciers that give way to rugged mountainsides.

In Yellowstone and in any national park or wilderness area, it seems like everything – the animals, the trees, the rocks, the water – is praising God by going about its business and fulfilling intended purpose.

Double rainbow at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

Psalm 8 is one of my favorites because I think it addresses this very thing: Seeing God’s power, grace and love of man through nature:

“…When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!”

Yellowstone bison.

I don’t mean this to be a rant against the evils of technology. I simply think that we too often become wrapped up in ourselves and with “keeping in touch” with the man-made world that we forget the beautiful, amazing creation that is out there for us to explore.

It is really powerful to go out on a hike and enjoy the silence, the sweet smell of wildflowers, the crisp and cool mountain air and realize that no matter how alone and remote you are, God is always right there. The evidence is all around you.

Mike P.