Death Valley Revisited

I went to Death Valley California a few years ago and was moved by the silence and majesty of the place. Death Valley for me was a place of self revelations as well as self introspection. I did a lot of thinking while I was there that has gone on for many years. I wish I could go back and visit agian. Its very life and barrenness screams for one to pay attention not only to it but to oneself. It is like a microcosm of the soul. There is the Devils' golf course, kind of like that place in the heart where the devil likes to play. The Artist's Palate where the angels make hay with grace. I mean, Death Valley really Made me look at my soul and see alot of things.

I think every person should take a walk out into Death Valley all alone without another person near them. They should spend a day in perfect silence walking in Mosaic canyon. Finding life where it seems imposssible for life to be. There God reaches out and starts talking to the soul in a real way that is not possible anywhere else on the earth. I mean for real. The desert is a very special place. It is stripped of distractions. All that is left is the barest of bare essentials. So bare that the place seems to be down right dangerous. But there one can find answers that are unanswerable anywhere else.

Why did Death Valley impress me so much.... why is God where the Devil's name is invoced (sp) so frequently? I recall a reading from Scripture where Jesus is driving the devil from a man and he looks sadly at the man. But he isn't looking at the man, he is looking at the devil within. He is looking sadly at the devil within like a parent at a child who is misled. Jesus is there, the devil is there, the valley of death is there. Jesus won't let the man's soul be lost and He is sad to see the devil is already lost. But the valley of death isn't one of hopelessness because Jesus is there....feeling for the man and for his lost angel. One won't be lost and the other chose to be lost. Death Valley is the place for choices, choose life or death. find life or death. Both are there. Jesus is there waiting for our choices...in the silence, in the dangers, in the stark beauty. He is there waiting.