Joel

Sometimes in our journey home we have to be far enough away from it to return with new eyes. Call it what you will, a repentance of the soul and mind, or fresh, new ways of seeing. In my journey to the Pacific Northwest I pushed myself (with my family) as far as I could to the ocean in the Olympic National Forest. The beauty of the Northwest is captivating. When you’ve grown accustomed to the dry desert that seems to cry out for and devour any moisture that Mother Nature will gift it, it’s astonishing to be in a climate where the clouds generously pour forth rain and the ground is so bloated that it [...]

I’ve recently been listening to a series by the Bible Project in which they highlight that “in ancient Israel’s imagination, the mountain is where the heavenly realm in the skies meets the human realm on land. In this place, people can access God’s wisdom and power and his very presence.” It’s in this place where Heaven and earth meet, and in this narrative, we see how the presence of God comes down to dwell with people in the tabernacle in the Old Testament, then in the availability of the Holy Spirit through Christ's incarnation and resurrection. I highly recommend it, and it has been a suiting accompaniment in my hikes up literal mountains. It has been [...]