Somewhere back in time, I decided I wanted to see the Grand Canyon.  Some people have Paris on their bucket list; the Grand Canyon made mine.  I looked at the canyon with Google Earth, and that was impressive, but it is not the same.  I have read Wikipedia articles and looked at beautiful photos, but information and pictures do not give you the scale. 

A recent conference scheduled in Phoenix finally gave me a shot at seeing the Grand Canyon.  Despite the setback of a flat tire on the rental car and the threat of a foot of snow, we made the trip.  We pulled up to the Visitor’s Center, walked out to Mather’s Point, and I caught my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. 

My first word was “Wow.”  My second word was “Wow.”  “Wow” became the operative word of the day.  There are no adequate words to describe what I saw: the reds, yellows, and grays of the rock; the grandeur of the buttes and peaks; the shadows of the canyons; glimpses of the Colorado River a mile below; and above all, the Grand Canyon stretching from horizon to horizon.  Wow. 

Have you ever had your mind filled with so many thoughts they jumbled up into one word?  Wow.  One of the first thoughts I sorted out was if I was an early explorer in these parts.  I would be riding my horse through the trees (yes, there are trees at the Grand Canyon) and then all of a sudden fall off into the canyon.  The explorer’s first word may not have been “Wow” but “Whoa!”   

I thought about Native Americans who lived in the Canyon.  How did they balance living in such beauty and eking out a living among the rocks?  I read the tribe would move seasonally from the bottom of the canyon to the top of the canyon and then back down again.  I bet they packed light for those moves. 

I know people hike down into the canyon and hike back again.  I admire these people.  They have an amazing experience and see things you cannot see from the rim.  My left knee tells me I will never be one of these people.  

You can also ride a mule down into the canyon as well, but there is a weight limit the mules can carry.  Let me just say if I want to do that in the future, serious dieting will have to occur.   

There is a story that may or may not be true about my grandfather visiting the Grand Canyon.  Grandpa would go to Vegas several times a year to gamble.  My parents went on a couple of these trips with him and, on one occasion, managed to tear him away from the poker tables to go see the Grand Canyon.  In addition to being a rancher and owner of the livestock market, Grandpa also owned a construction company that moved dirt.  His company cleared land for many of the developments in South Florida and dug canals for drainage and flood control. 

When Grandpa saw the Grand Canyon, he didn’t say much.  Momma asked him, “Daddy, what do you think of the Grand Canyon?”  Grandpa replied, “I sure would like to have had the contract to dig this thing.”   

My reaction was different: “Wow” in my vocabulary is short for “wonder.” I told my wife, “I think when God finished the Grand Canyon, he must have thought, “I did good.”  There is a sign at an overlook called “Hermit’s Rest” that reads “Sing to God, Sing praises to his name.  Lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds; His name is the LORD, exult before him – Psalm 68:4.”  I was tempted to burst out in song, but there were people around. 

I heard one Dad tell his five-year-old son, “See the river down there?  The Colorado River made this.”  I understand what he was trying to tell his son.  Geologists explain the formation of the canyon this way (although I was surprised to learn there is an “old” canyon theory of formation and a “young” canyon theory of formation.  Who knew?).  It is perfectly okay with me to explain the formation of the Grand Canyon as multi-million-year process. 

No matter how it was done, I know it was not the river alone that carved the Grand Canyon.  It was the finger of my Heavenly Father, to whom a thousand years are but a day, and a day a thousand years.  The beauty of the Grand Canyon is a reminder that our God is good, so good to make something so beautiful.  Then I ask, “Why would God makes something so beautiful for us to see?”  Maybe just to remind us he loves us; he loves us enough to give us things to provoke wonder.  We can wonder at the beauty of his world and the depth of his love.   

“Wow” is saying, “Heavenly Father, I see how amazing you are. 

“Wow.”