Have you ever experienced an event so rare, so statistically unlikely, that the possibility it is random must be excluded? If so, how did you rationalize your experience with the sure knowledge, it could not have happened? Did it shake you up, or did it elevate you?
I seek out the wild and unpeopled places. I have many irrational fears, but being alone in the wilderness is not one of them -- rather, it is a deeply meaningful aspiration which fills me with Joy when it happens.
Natural Bridges National Monument is a gem hidden far from the crowded parts of Utah. Early on May 6, 2018, I parked at the trailhead above Sipapu --elated to be the sole vehicle, knowing that for the next few hours I would have the ladders, ledges, and trail which descend 500 feet below the Mesa all to myself. I gloried in the quiet, in the dramatic scene, in the delicious alone -ness. A few hours later, making the return climb, I met two men my age descending -- my first human encounter of the day.
"Are you the guy from Fayette County?"
Huh? Oh, yeah -- they saw my license plate -- "That's me." "Well, we both work at Operation Mobilization in Tyrone!"
"Then you must know Richard Sharpe!"
"Sure do! What's your One Wish?"
"I wish I were wearing one of his special bracelets!"
This was the second encounter God provided me in the wilderness, to encourage me and remind me that I had not in fact been alone but had been in His company continually. When we shelter under His wings, we are never solo, only insensitive at times to Him...
OM is a an evangelical outreach -- in an instant I knew these men not as strangers but as intimately as brothers. The flush of Joy far exceeded my relish of the morning's solitude. The glow stayed with me -- indeed, months later as I write this, I can't imagine how amused God must have been with me at my amazement!
Thank you, Jesus!
Note: Google Street View walked the Sipapu trail -- the entire path is on line!
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