A couple of weeks ago, my dad, godfather, and I went on our annual camping trip in Buena Vista, Colorado. We've been going to the same campsite for a couple of years, as this site has the perfect balance of access to water, gorgeous scenery, and seclusion, while also being relatively easy to drive to from the four-wheeler access road (if you know the secret entrance). After we finished setting up camp, my godfather proclaimed, "We need to name this place. And it should be a Biblical name." I accepted this task and promptly began flipping through my Bible, searching the concordance for names and looking up the context of different locations, but nothing quite fit. Next, I started reading through well-known stories and stumbled upon the story of Jacob's Ladder in Genesis 28. Jacob is fleeing for his life from his brother, Esau, and is traveling quite a distance to the home of his Uncle Laban. After the sun had set, he laid his head down on a rock and went to sleep. That night, he had an amazing dream of a ladder that reached up to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! Even more amazing, the Lord God stood above the ladder and pronounced a blessing on Jacob and all of his descendants! When Jacob awoke from his dream, his response was similar to mine whenever I enter our campsite: "How awesome is this place! Surely the Lord is here." Then he named that place: Bethel.
Thus, our campsite was dubbed Bethel. Bethel is truly an awesome place, and the Lord always reveals Himself to me in a special way when I am there. Being up in my beloved mountains, without cell phone access or strict schedules, provides such a freedom to connect with God without distractions. The sheer beauty of God's creation always overwhelms me, and the only way I can respond is to praise the Creator of it all.
On our last night in Bethel, I wandered off alone to watch the sunset and worship. As I sang along to the song “My Cathedral” by Chris Rice, the words touched me deeply:
This is where I find my soul, out where holy men of old
First knelt in soil and thanked you for the rain
Wrote the songs that filled the air, herald angels sang their prayer
Out beneath your darling constellations
So let me off and wander, robin song and thunder
Surrounding me with stained glass leaves that change with every breeze
And out here in the stillness, I find my house of worship
With column trees and canopy of stars, here in my cathedral
When life gets crazy (just as it will in the very near future), and when I am surrounded by an overwhelming number of people and not enough of God’s creation, my heart will rest in the peace of the memory of Bethel, my cathedral.