After three days in the wilderness we were happy to head to Vegas to clean up (ironically enough…). We traded in God's Country for Sin City. A short 3 hour drive through the Mojave had us at our host's door - dirty, greasy and smelling like a campfire. What a way to make an impression… Luckily our hosts, Jordan and Kristen were old friends who passed no judgment. Instead they kindly let us into their beautiful home and (after some catching up) directed us straight to the bathroom. They understood our needs. :) As fellow adventurers (Jordan and Kristen recently quit their jobs, sold their home and moved to Vegas to plant a church), it was wonderful to connect with them on the joys and challenges of ministry. I often find myself wondering what would happen if more people took the risk to follow the Lord - in whatever way He directed them. I think the world would have a whole lot more satisfied people in it.
Being the incredibly hostess that she is, Kristen took the time to gather together a welcome packet - full of brochures, maps and information on how to best experience Vegas. One brochure in particular caught Corey's eye - Red Rocks Canyon. After our climb to Angels Landing, Corey was itching for more, so with our one day off we decided to head out to the wilderness yet once again. This was a different kind of wilderness however, the desert posses its own set of challenges. Water and sunscreen are essential. We read several warnings "Inform a friend or family member before you enter the desert and tell them when you plan to return….There is no cellular service in the state park." We were eager for a new adventure though, we picked our destination - The Keystone Thrust - and set off.
You really should check your gas gauge before driving 20 miles into the desert.
We had already made it to the state park before we noticed it… On a one way only loop through Red Rock Canyon. A 13 mile one-way loop. "Hmmm - we might need gas" Corey said nonchalantly as I was looking for our trail head on the map. "What?" "We might need gas." "Are you serious?" "Yea" "Corey we are in the middle of the desert this is not a good time to need gas." "Well the light hasn't come on yet…"
In the commotion - we passed our trail head. On the 13 mile - one way loop. "Why didn't you tell me to turn?" "I did! I told you it should be the next turn - if you saw a turn you should have turned!" "Well I can't turn now - we're on a one way!" Being the stubborn twosome that we are, we insisted on circling through the canyon again - on the 13 miles loop - and this time… the gas light came on. "The gas light came on." "Are you serious?" "Yea" "Aaagh" 2 miles in to a 13 mile loop, 20 miles outside of civilization with no cell service - you do the math. We would come seriously close to running out of gas. Still we insisted on finding the Keystone Thrust so we turned off on the trail head only to find we had to drive 2 miles up a rocky hill to the parking area. "Are we gonna make it?" "I don't know but we don't have a choice now!"
We parked the car in a parking lot in what seemed like the middle of the desert. Despite the circumstances we were intent upon completing our hike. We went to load up our back pack with the essentials only to realize that we had left the pack back at the host home. "Did you bring it inside?" "No did you bring it inside? "No, did we leave it at the campsite?" "I don't know!" "Well I guess we'll just have to carry what we need." We then proceeded to hike to the most uninteresting feature of the whole canyon. Called the "most significant geological feature," the Keystone Thrust ended up being a pile of rocks pushing through the dirt. Not exactly what we were hoping for after hiking 2 miles into the desert. The whole experience felt like a wash. All along knowing that we had to hike back to a car and hope that it would make it to a gas station. We were totally allowing our circumstances to ruin our attitudes.
We started wandering through the "thrust," and came across a stack of rocks set up on a sandy red boulder. Three or four small stones, stacked on top of each other. Then we came across another. And another. Rock piles stacked up by persons long gone - like altars. In the old testament, the Lord often instructs his people to gather stones and create an altar of remembrance. For example, after the Israelites crossed the Jordan river on dry land, they were instructed to take 12 stones and construct an altar. So that...
"In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' The Lord your God did to the Jordan what He had done to the Red Sea…. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful."
Seeing the altars - I knew. I knew that the Lord was with us. I knew that everything would work itself out. If we ran out of gas - we'd find someone to help us. It might take some time out of our day - but we knew weren't going to DIE out in the desert. Sometimes we need to take time to remember. Remember that the hand of the Lord is powerful. That He goes before us. So much of our lives are wasted by worry and stress. We miss out of the joy and peace of the Lord. Being reminded, we each added a rock to the altar and headed back to the car. We coasted down the desert road to the 13 mile loop. We hopped back on the highway and made it the 20 miles back into town. Gassed up and breathed a sigh of relief. The Lord was with us all along.
We finished up our time in Vegas by exploring the city - seeing the sights. Among them… the "Strip" (of course), my favorite part being the Bellagio Fountains. And Hoover Dam (much cooler than I expected - a modern marvel… its amazing to me what man can accomplish). And we had to get a photo by the Vegas sign! On Saturday we played at the swanky Sambalatte Coffehouse. Met some great people and had some ah-mazing coffee. Our last day in Vegas - before we set out for California, we had the opportunity check out Jordan and Kristen's church plant. It was so amazing to see the Lord's faithfulness. More and more confirmation that as you walk in obedience to His calling, He will bless it. The church just launched 7 months prior and they already had a thriving congregation of 75 people and their own building…. Pretty amazing. We left with the realization that even in the desert, the Lord is with us.
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