The falls from above
Originally uploaded by tynemann
1.26.2010
alamere falls
rain
A necessary ingredient for life, yet sometimes an unwanted ally. I walked through over five miles of it yesterday in search of something. Not sure I found what I was after but something definitely found me.
slogged
I wasn’t sure that was a word until today when I noticed my computer didn’t try to fix the spelling. I thought I had invented the word yesterday when puddle after puddle muddled my pants and shoes. Should have been more prepared.
muddled
Just realized that is also a word.
meander
I had set off quite hastily in the morning with only a few snacks, a GPS, my running shoes, a camera and a slightly hazy idea of where I was going. I hadn’t been there in probably seven years. But it wasn’t just my desire to go that was drawing me, there was something else.
romanced
The high cliffs and waves pounding the coast make for an incredible backdrop to the 5.5 mile hike to Wildcat campground. The last two weeks of rain and yesterdays forecast of more rain and wind made the journey even more adventurous. The drive takes you through parts of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate, along winding coastal highways, through small sleepy beach towns and finally to Point Reyes National Seashore. The park has multiple access points which means you should probably have a good idea of where you’re going before you end up at the visitor center realizing you missed your point of interest fifteen miles ago. Not that I learned from experience, but that’s just what I’ve heard.
As you drive down the dead-end road you pass some grazing areas for animals and a Coast Guard communication base. Although it’s more just a small building tucked into the hill, the building is surrounded by big radio towers and things that look like they are monitoring a lot more than just the tides. At the very end of the road you come to Palomarin Trailhead. From here you begin the journey that will separate men from boys. This was where I found myself.
At about two minutes into the walk I stopped suddenly and stared at the trail. There before me lay a large muddy puddle that completely covered the path. I realized quickly that I had completely worn the wrong shoes and I would be better off just getting into the car and going back home where it was warm and less windy and less rainy. However, something deeper inside me said to find a way through. So I did. I passed by the left side of the puddle through some sticker bushes and some of the less sloggy parts of the trail. Once past that I figured the rest should be easier. I need to stop trying to figure.
The trail is steep at points, rocky at points, covered in water at points, slippery, wet, dark, dangerous, etc. The very beginning of the trail warns you of mountain lions in the area. So I quickly began talking out loud to warn any would be ‘attackers-of-hikers’ that I was approaching. The trail I was looking for was an un-maintained trail that was so overgrown the branches and bushes are scraping up against you as you walk through. It’s a well-worn dirt path but no one goes and cuts back the under or overgrowth. So basically after you’ve made it through the main trail about three miles, you veer off towards the waterfall and into the difficult part. When you finally get to the waterfall you can’t actually see it unless you scramble down the eroded dirt cliffs to the ocean. On the chance something bad did happen to me, I realized I hadn’t explained very well where I was going which means no one would start looking for me for at least another five hours. So as courageous as I was, I decided not to venture into the deep ravine cut out by the recent rains and erosion. The waterfall was nice to look at. The hill I was perched atop was neat. The wind that almost, literally almost blew me over was interesting. But there was something else there that day that really caught my feelings.
nudge
I’m not sure if that’s the best way to even describe it. But that’s kind of what it felt like. A nudge by a friend to get my attention. Someone just simply saying, hey. I think on Facebook we call it a poke. Kind of weird but I think God had poked at me. Not a super poke, or throwing chickens or practicing karate or whatever all those other things are. Just a hand on the shoulder kind of thing that makes you realize you’re appreciated and cared for. A nudge. Before I had even reached the waterfall, I found myself walking along the trail and feeling that I had been brought here for Him to take His caring hand and shine my heart up a bit. Almost a nudge on my heart that makes you shiver in a good way. I think it was His way of expressing love. And it felt really good.
today
My legs hurt. It’s still raining and I’m remembering the last few moments of the adventure. I made it back to the car. Took a picture of my muddy shoes and pants. Took off my wet raincoat and sat down to eat my poppy seed muffin. Much to my dismay it was a little past due so I drove home hungry. Yet for some reason the commuter traffic, the lack of food, the wet muddy shoes, wet socks and feet, the continual rain, the bad drivers and the long drive home didn’t seem to matter that much. For something of a much greater nature had happened that day. I had been nudged by my creator. And it made me happy.
thanks
for reading
"Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better than spending a thousand elsewhere. I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God than live in the tents of the wicked"
Ps. 84:10
A necessary ingredient for life, yet sometimes an unwanted ally. I walked through over five miles of it yesterday in search of something. Not sure I found what I was after but something definitely found me.
slogged
I wasn’t sure that was a word until today when I noticed my computer didn’t try to fix the spelling. I thought I had invented the word yesterday when puddle after puddle muddled my pants and shoes. Should have been more prepared.
muddled
Just realized that is also a word.
meander
I had set off quite hastily in the morning with only a few snacks, a GPS, my running shoes, a camera and a slightly hazy idea of where I was going. I hadn’t been there in probably seven years. But it wasn’t just my desire to go that was drawing me, there was something else.
romanced
The high cliffs and waves pounding the coast make for an incredible backdrop to the 5.5 mile hike to Wildcat campground. The last two weeks of rain and yesterdays forecast of more rain and wind made the journey even more adventurous. The drive takes you through parts of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate, along winding coastal highways, through small sleepy beach towns and finally to Point Reyes National Seashore. The park has multiple access points which means you should probably have a good idea of where you’re going before you end up at the visitor center realizing you missed your point of interest fifteen miles ago. Not that I learned from experience, but that’s just what I’ve heard.
As you drive down the dead-end road you pass some grazing areas for animals and a Coast Guard communication base. Although it’s more just a small building tucked into the hill, the building is surrounded by big radio towers and things that look like they are monitoring a lot more than just the tides. At the very end of the road you come to Palomarin Trailhead. From here you begin the journey that will separate men from boys. This was where I found myself.
At about two minutes into the walk I stopped suddenly and stared at the trail. There before me lay a large muddy puddle that completely covered the path. I realized quickly that I had completely worn the wrong shoes and I would be better off just getting into the car and going back home where it was warm and less windy and less rainy. However, something deeper inside me said to find a way through. So I did. I passed by the left side of the puddle through some sticker bushes and some of the less sloggy parts of the trail. Once past that I figured the rest should be easier. I need to stop trying to figure.
The trail is steep at points, rocky at points, covered in water at points, slippery, wet, dark, dangerous, etc. The very beginning of the trail warns you of mountain lions in the area. So I quickly began talking out loud to warn any would be ‘attackers-of-hikers’ that I was approaching. The trail I was looking for was an un-maintained trail that was so overgrown the branches and bushes are scraping up against you as you walk through. It’s a well-worn dirt path but no one goes and cuts back the under or overgrowth. So basically after you’ve made it through the main trail about three miles, you veer off towards the waterfall and into the difficult part. When you finally get to the waterfall you can’t actually see it unless you scramble down the eroded dirt cliffs to the ocean. On the chance something bad did happen to me, I realized I hadn’t explained very well where I was going which means no one would start looking for me for at least another five hours. So as courageous as I was, I decided not to venture into the deep ravine cut out by the recent rains and erosion. The waterfall was nice to look at. The hill I was perched atop was neat. The wind that almost, literally almost blew me over was interesting. But there was something else there that day that really caught my feelings.
nudge
I’m not sure if that’s the best way to even describe it. But that’s kind of what it felt like. A nudge by a friend to get my attention. Someone just simply saying, hey. I think on Facebook we call it a poke. Kind of weird but I think God had poked at me. Not a super poke, or throwing chickens or practicing karate or whatever all those other things are. Just a hand on the shoulder kind of thing that makes you realize you’re appreciated and cared for. A nudge. Before I had even reached the waterfall, I found myself walking along the trail and feeling that I had been brought here for Him to take His caring hand and shine my heart up a bit. Almost a nudge on my heart that makes you shiver in a good way. I think it was His way of expressing love. And it felt really good.
today
My legs hurt. It’s still raining and I’m remembering the last few moments of the adventure. I made it back to the car. Took a picture of my muddy shoes and pants. Took off my wet raincoat and sat down to eat my poppy seed muffin. Much to my dismay it was a little past due so I drove home hungry. Yet for some reason the commuter traffic, the lack of food, the wet muddy shoes, wet socks and feet, the continual rain, the bad drivers and the long drive home didn’t seem to matter that much. For something of a much greater nature had happened that day. I had been nudged by my creator. And it made me happy.
thanks
for reading
"Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better than spending a thousand elsewhere. I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God than live in the tents of the wicked"
Ps. 84:10
10.13.2009
Cooking Utensils
While I’ve never been much of a great creative genius when it comes to cooking; I am partially able to tell the difference between teaspoons and tablespoons, the difference between baking soda and baking powder and the difference between forks and spoons. Although there are still a few items and techniques that I don’t understand, somehow I find myself researching meat tenderizers.
It seems that it can be multiple different things from an enzyme, which breaks down the connections of the proteins in the peptide bonds that blah blah blah… Or other options which include a hammer or an old cudgel like instrument that you use to beat-down a steak with. Still other options include a small gadget that looks like an “As Seen on TV” special. It has multiple blades on it and you use it repeatedly to pulverize a harmless pork roast. Regardless of which option someone chooses, the result usually comes out the same: a beat-down, helpless and surrendered, tenderized piece of meat. Which is about the correct definition of my heart.
A few months ago I got a surprising yet short phone call. My brother who’s been married for over four years now called to tell me my sister-in-law is pregnant and due in March. As this seems to be a very natural part of the marriage, growing-up and continuing the human species type event, I was kind of prepared for the day that I would get that call. However during a recent trip home something was very different about the whole event and how our family would be changing. The enzyme had started working.
Now the obvious part of the whole thing, which was explained to me recently when I related this story, is that because she’s pregnant she’ll start to have a little bump for a stomach. Which I guess I wasn’t really ready for until they met us for dinner one night. Suddenly the reality of my mom’s grandma status, my extended uncle status and the weirdest part of Micah being a Dad helped continue this strange tenderizing process. I think it was the cudgel.
A few days later as I’m driving and thinking about the new baby I start getting all glossy and watery eyed. (I had the windows open so it could’ve been some dust or a bug or something that just happened to get into both eyes at the exact same time) But I think it was something much deeper. I felt God opening my heart to an understanding and to feeling love and connection to someone that I’d never felt before. I began realizing that this small child that’s not even born yet, probably doesn’t even weigh as much as my wallet, has somehow captured my heart already. Somehow this young life is introducing me to a new way of knowing God’s love. It was definitely the hammer.
“Your heart is being tenderized” my Pastor told me recently as I related this story to him. I hadn’t thought of that. I had come home from the visit feeling that now more than ever I wanted to move back to California so I could be a part of this event. So I could be there when it happens, not actually be THERE in the delivery, but to be around. A life is being brought into the world and not that it hasn’t ever happened before to anyone else in the world, but for some reason this pregnant lady is different. For some reason God has taken all these cooking utensils and begun to unlock new places and new understandings of not only what love means, but also to continue capturing my heart for Him. The movement of His spirit isn’t so much focused on my physical location, but focused more on the status of my heart.
Whatever feelings of love, excitement, connection, anticipation or whatever else I’m feeling, I’m beginning to see that the only reason I’m able to feel or experience this is because a Creator placed it there. While made in His image, we must also be made in His likeness, which would then lead me to believe that we also carry His emotions.
What other avenues or areas is God waiting to open or explore in our hearts? How much more of Him can we begin to experience as we experience life and just let Him move in us? Is it really possible for God to love us and like us even more than we’ll even be able to know?
And yes of course I’ll be a good uncle who appropriately spoils this kid. Maybe not with all kinds of material possessions or things, but maybe I can spoil her or him with an unlocked place in my heart full of love, affection, encouragement and amazement. With how much I feel is in there, I wonder if it’s even possible for God to have more.
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
Yes I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Jer. 31:3
It seems that it can be multiple different things from an enzyme, which breaks down the connections of the proteins in the peptide bonds that blah blah blah… Or other options which include a hammer or an old cudgel like instrument that you use to beat-down a steak with. Still other options include a small gadget that looks like an “As Seen on TV” special. It has multiple blades on it and you use it repeatedly to pulverize a harmless pork roast. Regardless of which option someone chooses, the result usually comes out the same: a beat-down, helpless and surrendered, tenderized piece of meat. Which is about the correct definition of my heart.
A few months ago I got a surprising yet short phone call. My brother who’s been married for over four years now called to tell me my sister-in-law is pregnant and due in March. As this seems to be a very natural part of the marriage, growing-up and continuing the human species type event, I was kind of prepared for the day that I would get that call. However during a recent trip home something was very different about the whole event and how our family would be changing. The enzyme had started working.
Now the obvious part of the whole thing, which was explained to me recently when I related this story, is that because she’s pregnant she’ll start to have a little bump for a stomach. Which I guess I wasn’t really ready for until they met us for dinner one night. Suddenly the reality of my mom’s grandma status, my extended uncle status and the weirdest part of Micah being a Dad helped continue this strange tenderizing process. I think it was the cudgel.
A few days later as I’m driving and thinking about the new baby I start getting all glossy and watery eyed. (I had the windows open so it could’ve been some dust or a bug or something that just happened to get into both eyes at the exact same time) But I think it was something much deeper. I felt God opening my heart to an understanding and to feeling love and connection to someone that I’d never felt before. I began realizing that this small child that’s not even born yet, probably doesn’t even weigh as much as my wallet, has somehow captured my heart already. Somehow this young life is introducing me to a new way of knowing God’s love. It was definitely the hammer.
“Your heart is being tenderized” my Pastor told me recently as I related this story to him. I hadn’t thought of that. I had come home from the visit feeling that now more than ever I wanted to move back to California so I could be a part of this event. So I could be there when it happens, not actually be THERE in the delivery, but to be around. A life is being brought into the world and not that it hasn’t ever happened before to anyone else in the world, but for some reason this pregnant lady is different. For some reason God has taken all these cooking utensils and begun to unlock new places and new understandings of not only what love means, but also to continue capturing my heart for Him. The movement of His spirit isn’t so much focused on my physical location, but focused more on the status of my heart.
Whatever feelings of love, excitement, connection, anticipation or whatever else I’m feeling, I’m beginning to see that the only reason I’m able to feel or experience this is because a Creator placed it there. While made in His image, we must also be made in His likeness, which would then lead me to believe that we also carry His emotions.
What other avenues or areas is God waiting to open or explore in our hearts? How much more of Him can we begin to experience as we experience life and just let Him move in us? Is it really possible for God to love us and like us even more than we’ll even be able to know?
And yes of course I’ll be a good uncle who appropriately spoils this kid. Maybe not with all kinds of material possessions or things, but maybe I can spoil her or him with an unlocked place in my heart full of love, affection, encouragement and amazement. With how much I feel is in there, I wonder if it’s even possible for God to have more.
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
Yes I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Jer. 31:3
5.08.2009
Ziplocked Legos
I’d like to say that many years ago as I was growing up I used to play and build with Legos. Being truthful though I’d have to add that even today there are still a few sets to be found laying in various parts of the house with a bin full of them in the garage. My brothers and I would strategically place castle, medieval and pirate characters around a base or a fortress of some kind. Like they say “You can take a kid away from Legos, but you can’t take Lego’s away from a kid…” Or something like that.
Tonight after I locked up the church ministry center I got a phone call. One of the fellow staff members was hoping I was still inside and hadn’t left yet. Unfortunately I said, I’m already on my way home just heading out of the parking lot. “Is everything ok?” I asked. As it turned out a small meltdown was taking place.
Apparently one of the young kids that night had left his Ziploc bag full of Legos in the church and the lady was wondering if we were still in the building to check for them. I’m sure she had gotten a call from a mom who was trying to console a panicked kid about his (or her) favorite Lego collection. At the time I was already leaving and was advised not to worry about it, that she would call one of the other staff members to see if she had found the missing multi-colored bricks.
I guess I kind of laughed a little at the thought of the kid at home having a “meltdown” about some toys. Here it is past ten-o-clock at night and I’m sure he’s sitting up in bed in his pajamas crying his eyes out. Amazing the importance these small toys have on his life.
And then of course, in God’s simple and gently ways, the spotlight is turned on me.
Tonight, for a second week in a row, one of our pastors read from Haggai 2:7. If you had asked me three weeks ago whether Haggai was a book in the Bible, I would’ve had to think a long, long time about that.
The verse speaks about God saying He will shake all the nations. He will shake them to fill His house with Glory. An interesting verse, an interesting thought and an interesting way that I see it being applied to my life.
There’s an allure to the “stuff” I can have in my life. An attraction to having something “newer” or “better” or “bigger” or “faster” things. All these things that I’m told I need in my life. All these things that everyone seems to have and they seem to bring happiness. All these things that can somehow become a priority over God in the amount of money, time or resources we give to them. Legos.
What are the things that I have in my life that God is going to shake? What things do I invest too much time or resources in? What things in my life do I take comfort in? The stuff that I have in my life that will someday be in the back of my closet in a Goodwill bag, does it take first place? Have I placed my comfort, security and peace of mind in something that will never last forever?
When I put all these things; careers, jobs, house, car, family, money, health on one side of the scale and put a righteous pursuit of God’s Heart on the other, which weighs heavier? Which side takes priority? Honestly?
When I look at the boys’ (or girls’) meltdown I think how trivial, they’re crying about Legos. How insignificant is that? To that child though, those Legos are comfort and security. What are the Ziplocked Lego bags in my life? The things that if God were to shake up a bit it would cause me to sit up at night crying in my pajamas in bed.
I want to desperately seek His Heart and intimately know His Love. To find security, comfort, peace and rest knowing who my safety and who my Father is. Knowing that whatever Legos are given or taken away from me in my days, none will match His smile on my life.
I contemplated turning around and going back to search for the lost treasure. However I was assured that it would be ok and I didn’t need to do that. Now as I sit at home writing this, I have a feeling the lesson the boy (or girl) is learning is soon to become my lesson as well.
Haggai 2:7
“…and I will shake all nations. And they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts”
(page 832 in my Bible, I checked the Table of Contents)
My prayer is that God would shake things out of me in order to bring glory to Him.
Thanks for reading
Tonight after I locked up the church ministry center I got a phone call. One of the fellow staff members was hoping I was still inside and hadn’t left yet. Unfortunately I said, I’m already on my way home just heading out of the parking lot. “Is everything ok?” I asked. As it turned out a small meltdown was taking place.
Apparently one of the young kids that night had left his Ziploc bag full of Legos in the church and the lady was wondering if we were still in the building to check for them. I’m sure she had gotten a call from a mom who was trying to console a panicked kid about his (or her) favorite Lego collection. At the time I was already leaving and was advised not to worry about it, that she would call one of the other staff members to see if she had found the missing multi-colored bricks.
I guess I kind of laughed a little at the thought of the kid at home having a “meltdown” about some toys. Here it is past ten-o-clock at night and I’m sure he’s sitting up in bed in his pajamas crying his eyes out. Amazing the importance these small toys have on his life.
And then of course, in God’s simple and gently ways, the spotlight is turned on me.
Tonight, for a second week in a row, one of our pastors read from Haggai 2:7. If you had asked me three weeks ago whether Haggai was a book in the Bible, I would’ve had to think a long, long time about that.
The verse speaks about God saying He will shake all the nations. He will shake them to fill His house with Glory. An interesting verse, an interesting thought and an interesting way that I see it being applied to my life.
There’s an allure to the “stuff” I can have in my life. An attraction to having something “newer” or “better” or “bigger” or “faster” things. All these things that I’m told I need in my life. All these things that everyone seems to have and they seem to bring happiness. All these things that can somehow become a priority over God in the amount of money, time or resources we give to them. Legos.
What are the things that I have in my life that God is going to shake? What things do I invest too much time or resources in? What things in my life do I take comfort in? The stuff that I have in my life that will someday be in the back of my closet in a Goodwill bag, does it take first place? Have I placed my comfort, security and peace of mind in something that will never last forever?
When I put all these things; careers, jobs, house, car, family, money, health on one side of the scale and put a righteous pursuit of God’s Heart on the other, which weighs heavier? Which side takes priority? Honestly?
When I look at the boys’ (or girls’) meltdown I think how trivial, they’re crying about Legos. How insignificant is that? To that child though, those Legos are comfort and security. What are the Ziplocked Lego bags in my life? The things that if God were to shake up a bit it would cause me to sit up at night crying in my pajamas in bed.
I want to desperately seek His Heart and intimately know His Love. To find security, comfort, peace and rest knowing who my safety and who my Father is. Knowing that whatever Legos are given or taken away from me in my days, none will match His smile on my life.
I contemplated turning around and going back to search for the lost treasure. However I was assured that it would be ok and I didn’t need to do that. Now as I sit at home writing this, I have a feeling the lesson the boy (or girl) is learning is soon to become my lesson as well.
Haggai 2:7
“…and I will shake all nations. And they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts”
(page 832 in my Bible, I checked the Table of Contents)
My prayer is that God would shake things out of me in order to bring glory to Him.
Thanks for reading
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
