Our family just returned from the first real vacation we’ve had in years and we had a wonderful time.

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting the Grand Canyon. Our daughter enjoyed the snow there (yes, apparently it snows in Arizona and the fresh snowfall was beautiful). She even got to make a snowman, as evidenced below:

gcsnow.jpg

This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon, and it was completely breathtaking. Before visiting, I’m not sure what I imagined (maybe a big hole in the ground?) but when we finally arrived and got our first glimpse I gasped out loud. My wife told me a story about a family she knew growing up who drove out from Southern California to the Grand Canyon, saw it, said, “What a grand canyon” and hopped right back into the car and returned home. However, we were in no hurry to leave — there was so much to take in.

My wife and I spoke during our trip home about how sometimes we need to experience really huge and beautiful things that remind us of how small we really are and how this sense of awe and wonder help us to reconnect with God in deeper ways (well, mostly my wife spoke and I listened and learned — she’s profound like that, and I’m a lucky man!).

When everything is human-sized and manageable, it is so easy for me to lose sight of the vastness of God. And, at times when I feel on the verge of being crushed by circumstances, I am so glad that my life is in His hands. There is a world of difference between feeling dumb or belittled because I just can’t get it right and being re-sized in the presence of Almighty God.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! – Psalm 8:1