I’ve been exploring Mammoth Hot Springs lately. Today I hiked the Beaver Ponds trail which was about 5 miles. I need to get a little more acclimated to the altitude before hiking the longer trails. The bad side to Yellowstone is that it is so spread out that you have to drive to the trailheads which are far apart, very much unlike Yosemite. But the plus side to that is that there aren’t as much people on each trail, very much unlike Yosemite. I’ll attempt to keep track of the trails and mileage.
But now to the main thing I want to write. Since being here, I’ve been learning a few things, and better than that, I’ve been being taught things while being here. 1) Creation alone cannot satisfy a person. 2) About spiritual hunches or tuggings (listening to God). And 3) Treating God like God.
1) Creation along cannot satisfy a person. And for this little section, just to clear things up, creation is anything besides people. This may surprise some people who know me. I can be a pretty quiet guy and am definitely an introvert. I do enjoy a good bit of time alone, especially in nature. However, no one can be satisfied in being alone. “It is not good for man to be alone.” People need fellowship even if they are surrounded by gorgeous creation. Creation cannot replace people and cannot act as a substitute. There are good things that can come spending time alone in the wilderness: reflection, prayer, awe, etc. But time should still be spent in fellowship with other people. Man is God’s most prized creation and we must act as so in fellowship with God and with others.
2) About spiritual hunches or tuggings. I’m not really sure what to call these. Some call them God tugging on your heart, some call them spiritual instincts, and some say they are like spiritual hunches. What I’m talking about is simply God, the Holy Spirit communicating to you. And it takes practice. I’m definitely no expert in the matter, and I’m sure there are books out there that can tell you better than I “How to Listen When God Speaks.” But here’s what I do. No matter how menial the decision, I ask myself which decision is better. I don’t really rationally debate within myself any statistics or anything like that, but I go off of a feeling. I know that at the word ‘feeling’ some may be thrown off. And I think it’s more than a feeling but that’s the best word I could think to use. And just to show how ‘menial’ some decisions can be, I would do this with the way home back in Alabama. Driving back to my house from Huntsville, there are two ways, one by Winchester and one by Ryland. I simply ask which way would be better to go and usually I get a somewhat immediate instinct answer. And it wasn’t always the same. It may sound silly to some reading this, but at least for me specifically, it’s like training for a much bigger future circumstance that I need to follow the communicating of the Holy Spirit in order for me to be in the right place at the right time. Some people will know what I’m talking about. The reason I’m writing this is because I had a little bit of affirmation in this area just yesterday. I drove a friend up to the Mammoth Clinic around 9 or so and he had to be there until after 11. I drove around for a while, parked at an overlook of a waterfall and sat for a little bit. After a while, I figured I’d just go back to Gardiner for a little bit, fix me something to eat, and then come back up. At the junction to go back to Gardiner, or to go to Mammoth, I had a notion that I shouldn’t go back. It wasn’t very strong. But I decided that I might as well go to the Hot Springs, walk around for a little bit and see what happens. While I was deciding this, I thought that it might be one of those spiritual notions or hunches or whatever so I followed it. On reaching the Hot Springs, there was a guy who was hitchhiking. I picked him up, and he told me he wanted to go the Canyon, about thirty miles away. So I did. From what I could understand, his name was Nicolai. He was from France and was hitchhiking his way throughout the Northwestern US. We didn’t talk a whole lot. We did some introductory conversation but his English wasn’t the best. However, I do think that this was something concrete that came from a spiritual notion. It could’ve been a coincidence, but I don’t think so. It could have been an answer to his prayer. It could have simply made the guy’s day a little better. It could have delivered him to someone else who could talk to him about God in good timing. It could have been God blessing him. Or it simply could have been just a little bit of training for me. Whatever it was, at least in my life, this is how God communicates to me, or at least one way. But I think this way of communication is extremely important in how we make decisions and how we conduct our lives.
3) Treating God like God. I realize this is a very broad topic and there are a whole lot of things that can be said. On the drive to Yellowstone and for a couple of the first days, I was feeling disconnected with God. I was questioning why this was. It could have been for several different reasons, or even combined reasons. The sentence that popped in my head was this: treat God like God. And the first thing to treating God like He is God is in His name. God is represented by His name more so than any of us are represented by our name. Among friends if someone talks about Jared, they know who is being referred to and the characteristics of this person. However, if you get out of this group, the name Jared, or even Jared Carter isn’t very representative. I am not the only Jared. But God is the only God, even though people don’t necessarily agree with this. And because God is the only God, His name is extremely representative of Himself. So when we use the word god or the name God loosely, it damages His representation. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” It’s not a matter of dos and don’ts. It’s not a matter of what is considered a cuss/curse/swear word and what isn’t. It’s a matter of reverence. We are not giving the reverence and respect due to God when we use it in any context out of what it should be in. This includes God, Jesus Christ, holy, and in my opinion, even hell. God and Jesus Christ are obvious because they are names. Holy shouldn’t accompany anything out of context because that is the overall characteristic of God and the only reason anything is holy is because God has counted it as so or made it so. Hell is a creation of God for His purposes. It’s not a pretty picture. But Hell is where God’s wrath is shown. And even using hell out of context isn’t treating God as God. Some people may think I go too far with this. But for me, I’m trying not to use words that name God, describe God, and are attributed to God out of context so that it lessens the effect and representation of God. And I’m finding that I use them out of context way too often.
I hope this wasn’t too rambly.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Local Wildlife (Dad would love this place)
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