06-27.2-11 Yosemite (part 2)

Still no pictures. Oh well.

Tuesday, we finally got into the park. It was about an hour's drive, right? Feels about right. The first place we visited was Mariposa Grove, where we went on a hike passed a fallen sequoia, a giant, and a bachelor. We stopped at a walk-through tree and took some pictures, then headed back to the car. It was fun though, the trail was a little some parts, so I got to carry the stroller with Naomi. She seemed to think I was a little weird. Probably right. Ooh, and Miriam and I made a snow man! Almost forgot that one.

After Mariposa Grove, we headed for the valley, stopping at tunnel view and taking loads of pictures. Afterwards, we headed down to Bridal Veil falls, which was AWESOME. It was like it was raining! Very cool. You get out your camera, take one shot, then take cover, wipe it off, and repeat. Got some decent pictures though, we still need to exchange all of those. I almost forgot about that.

Another cool thing about Bridal Veil Falls is that it has some really awesome rocks to climb by the parking lot. There was one that would have been Epic, but there was a lot of moss on the part that was easiest to climb, and it had just rained recently, so it wasn't the safest time for it... Bummer.

After that, we explored the visitor's center and took a shuttle around the park, checking out all the places we'll be visiting later. I think after that we headed back to the resort.

Wednesday we got up early so we could run to the park in time for our service project. Ruth had arranged for us to help out with clearing some conifers that were invading Cook's Meadow. The rangers were awesome. They showed us what to do, got out tarps, gloves, vests, and loppers, and led us into the meadow. Yep, that's right. We cut down baby trees in a protected national park in plain sight of a ranger and got away with it. I love service.

We had a blast, and we cleared out a pretty good sized area. We didn't quite make it to the road though. We were close. After that, we had lunch and checked out the shops. While working though, my flashlight slipped out of my water pack, allowing me to learn the parable of the flashlight and the grove, which I'll get to in a minute.

Thursday, we all decided to go to the park separately, using the morning to do whatever we wanted before meeting up at Yosemite falls. For Bjab, that meant going for a bike ride. For me, that meant heading back to the meadow to make a quick search for my flashlight. I went out there and looked for a few minutes, probably between fifteen minutes and half an hour. Then I finally had the idea to pray about it. I made it a quick one, just a 'if it's not too much trouble' kind of things. Eventually, I got an answer, but it wasn't the one I was expecting. I simply got the impression to get on my knees and ask again. I went ahead with it, and only then did I realize what a difference that really makes.

I didn't just ask about the flashlight. That was only ever a trivial thing. I talked about things that were important to me, things I had been concerned about. I learned that praying on your knees really helps you focus on the things that matter rather than just saying the same things over and over. I wasn't really worried about a flashlight. Granted, I'd had it for a while and liked it, but it was replaceable. The things I was really concerned about were the things I ended up praying about, not the flashlight (although I did mention it). And when I was finished, I got another prompting. And this one was different from the other one. I got this one pretty much as soon as I stood up.

I decided to look by the area where we were working last, and when I did, I found something, but not what I was looking for. Apparently, one of the loppers had been left out there, so I went ahead and grabbed it. I looked in that same area some more, but eventually gave up. I then got a prompting to check the path we had followed to when dumping the trees. Nothing. Just as I was about to go back and grab the loppers, something suddenly told me to look down. Just inches from my foot, partly hidden by some grass, was my flashlight.

There's a lot in there for being such an unimportant thing. I learned that sometimes we need to rethink about what trials in life are really worrying us the most. I also learned that when you are really trying to make your personal prayers meaningful, the best way is to do it on your knees, something I hadn't really considered that much. Finally, we may get promptings that don't make sense, but that's only because he has other plans. The bigger picture and all that. If I had been led to the flashlight first, I never would have found the loppers. No big deal, really, but if I was there anyway, why not have me grab them? No reason to let them go to waste.

Anyway, I'm often surprised by how often the Lord seems to use these simple things to teach me. I've never had a vision. No angels or anything like that. Just these little things, but for me, they're enough. The ALEKS experience back in '09 was probably my most treasured one, if only for the pure relief and joy I felt afterward. And the simpleness of it all. A single prayer, a single prompting. Just that brief moment was enough to fix something that I had been struggling with for over a month.

So yeah, kind of having trouble shifting back to Yosemite after that. I think I'll stop here and start a separate post. Why would that make a difference? Who knows, but it sounds good to me.