My Best April - Part 2

Spiritual lessons of the Grand Canyon

“I can’t wait to see this big ditch.”

Day two of my West Coast getaway was spent on a bus tour to the Grand Canyon.

We couldn’t possibly get this close to "the big ditch" and not go see it. (Close is relative.)

While I had an interest in seeing the canyon, it was on my traveling partner’s must-see list in life. For as long as I’ve known him, he has always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon.

When booking the tour, the hotel concierge offered us a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.

My eyes widened with eagerness. “Yes,” I said.

“No,” he uttered. The turbulence on the plane ride to Las Vegas was enough off-the-ground excitement for him.

So we opted for the bus tour – one that departed at 6:25 a.m. and wouldn’t return until 10 p.m. that night. I wasn’t quite expecting an all-day excursion. I was thinking more like a half day. We go, we see, we conquer, and return to the hypnotizing neon lights of Vegas.

Not. It took half a day just to get there. We didn’t arrive to “the big ditch” until 2:30 p.m. But mind you, it wasn’t a direct trip. We stopped for photo opportunities at the Hoover Dam and then at a gift shop on Historic Route 66, the first major U.S. Highway.

So far, so good. No, make that so far, so great. The bus driver/tour guide was comical; we sat near a friendly couple from Greensboro, N.C., which is where our flight departed; and the honey baked ham lunches the tour provided were yummy for our tummies.

The only annoying part was a couple sitting directly in front of us who must have been on their honeymoon. They couldn’t keep their hands – or lips for that matter – off of each other. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of public display of affection, but they needed a room and at one point, I was willing to pay for it to get them off the bus.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, which stands 7,700 feet above sea level. According to the guide, the United States only owns 50 miles of the Grand Canyon, which is the park part. The rest of the 277-mile world wonder belongs to Native Americans.

The guide says way back when, the U.S. saw the canyon as a hindrance – as in how could it be crossed rather than seeing its geological grandeur and beauty.

Fast forward hundreds of years and the Grand Canyon gets five million visitors per year. Entranceway into the national park features an airport – dubbed the biggest smallest airport in the world. It was an airport crash there that led to the formation of the Federal Aviation Administration, says the guide.

The national park itself consists of six hotels, a restaurant, grocery store, fire department, medical clinic and a school – all for the employees and their families who live at the park. Yes, you read correctly. Employees live at the Grand Canyon.

If your environment affects your mood, those should be some of the happiest people in the world. To awaken each day to such natural beauty and breathtaking views is life at its grandest.

The Grand Canyon looks like a rock city. The varying heights of the cliffs and the different colors of the rock layers paint a natural masterpiece, one that the mighty Colorado River helped to carve at least five million years ago.

It is spiritual there, to say the least. Our spirits immediately connected with the awesome God that created this. One can only stand in awe and reverence not only the creation, but the creator.

There are many lessons to learn from its formation. Like how a persistent, faithful river didn’t allow a mountain to stand in its way – and neither should we. Instead, it carved its way through it and like so, we should persist in life when confronted with obstacles that appear as mountains.

Like how erosion of the rock layers reveals the beauty of the canyon – so is our strength and character revealed during breakdowns in life. It may take years to see the results of our faithfulness, but at the right time, it will show itself and leave us in awe – as does the Grand Canyon.

“It was amazing. It was breathtaking,” my friend said of seeing it. “I had always heard about the Grand Canyon and wanted to go but I never imagined it. You can never imagine it. You can see pictures but you can’t imagine what it really looks like until you see it in person.”

And after seeing it in person, it’s no longer fair to call it a “big ditch.” It’s much more than that.