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.
Reboot Wilderness Adventures 