“School” at Snoqualmie Falls

If I wanted to make homeschooling sound more impressive, I would say, “For Science class today we studied nature at Snoqualmie Falls.” Or, I could just say we finished school early, skipping Science, to show-off the second most popular tourist destination in Washington to our guest.

(click on any picture to enlarge)

Snoqualmie Falls is 276 feet high, taller than Niagara Falls, but obviously not as wide.

I have enough pictures to make a baby book for Snoqualmie Falls. But, pictures never do it justice. A picture can’t produce the sound that isn’t a noise, it is a calming presence. A picture can’t help you feel the fine cool mist that greets you or the slight wind that embraces you into the scene. You don’t just see the Falls, you experience them.

Every visit the scene is different. It depends on how deep the river is, how much moisture is in the air, how much wind and what color the foliage is. Today a fall chill and threat of a storm kept everyone away. There were only four other people there when we arrived -two couples who were wishing we weren’t there. AWKWARD!

They might have missed the storm, but we rained on their parade.

Boulder hopping is a favorite family sport. Today, everyone got their feet wet. Except me.

They don’t have waterfalls like this in Kansas. Kansas waterfalls look like this. To mark the occasion for Keith, I took a picture of him taking a picture of me taking a picture of the Falls.

We photographed….

We posed…..

We pondered…

…and enjoyed the fact that though 1.5 million people visit this spot each year, today, we had the Creation almost to ourselves.

Though the beauty of the Falls always thrills me, today I was enthralled with this rock. Notice its shining presence in the middle of the other plain rocks? The finish was smooth, satiny and warm. I wanted to lay my face on it, but I do enough things to embarrass my kids. As my hands lightly caressed the surface, I was longing to take this rock home with me.

This rock was different.

This rock was made of different stuff than the rest of the rocks. The winds and waves of trauma polished this rock into a natural gemstone that gleams in the endless beach of plain gray rocks that remained unchanged by the winds and waves.

Shouldn’t we be like that rock? Shouldn’t we Christians be made of different stuff so that all the trials of our lives polish us, perfect us, set us apart from all the others in the same circumstances?

How can we be like that rock? By standing on the Rock.

Psalms 62:2, “He only is my rock and my salvation.”

Psalms 18:2, “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust.”

1 Corinthians 10:4, “…and that Rock was Christ.”

As a Christian, I want to be like that rock – he rock I could only take home in my digital camera. If I allow the winds and waves smooth away the rough edges, the ugliness, it can make me a reflection of His loving work in my life.

And, as a Christian, I want to be like MY ROCK – Christ.