The Grandeur of God's World

This vacation has been different than the others because it has not been constrained by time. We have been free to go and see, stop and look, and embrace the world in which we live, and what a world it is!! We spent four amazing days in San Antonio, Texas, with 63,000 of our closest friends as we celebrated the 75th anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous. While the meetings were amazing, and the numbers of people would boggle the mind, what impressed me the most was the gracious hospitality of the people of San Antonio. We were the largest convention ever held in a city known for its convention hospitality, and we put a strain on the town. The police may not have had to deal with drunks, but they had to deal with monumental stresses on the traffic system! The eating establishments may not have had to order extra booze, but the Subway did run out of bread and everyone was searching for coffee! And over it all was the miracle that is AA, the miracle that set those 63,000 people free from the disease of alcoholism and all of its pain!

As we began to work our way back to the west, we visited Big Bend National Park. Now Big Bend is 130 miles from the freeway and is not on the way to anywhere, but the scenery and the critters---even the palm sized tarantulas---are amazing. Everything is big in Texas, and Big Bend fits the bill. But New Mexico has its own big, in the indescribable wonder that is Carlsbad Caverns. This was a return trip for us and the magic still rendered us speechless. From the flight of hundreds of thousands of bats to the minute detail of a tiny speleotherm (big word for cave decoration), words just kept on failing. Between Big Bend and Carlsbad is Guadalupe Mountains National Park, but it can easily get lost in the wonder of its better known cousins. However, God's handiwork was there as well.

Then it was off to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, 275 square miles of the whitest of white sand. I had not seen it in 45 years, and it still amazed me, just as it did those long years ago. We have seen some man made things to be sure, but when I sit down to recall these days, I will first see in my mind's eye the glory of God, spread out for all to see, and for that I am very grateful!!!