I have experienced two of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Well, it’s a start…
For me, to miss one of them would be darn near criminal. I live four hours from the Grand Canyon. Astonishingly, there are millions of people who live near me who have never been, and may never go to, the Grand Canyon.
That’s baffling.
If (and when) you visit, you will see literally thousands of people who spent thousands of Euros, or Yen, or… whatever to get a glimpse of the Grand Canyon.
For a few hours.
But many who live a short drive away just blow it off.
For those who do go, the vast majority will never set foot below the rim.
But I have. Many times.
This isn’t bragging. I’m just saying that if you can see one of the seven wonders of the world, by all means do it.
And if you can drink it in by spending hours or days there, yes, do it!
I’ve hiked the canyon probably five or six times. I plan to go again. It never gets old.
Even if you’ve walked the same trail a few times, each new time reveals new things: The sun hits the rocks a different way depending on the times and seasons, a distant storm stirs up wind and with it the fragrance of rain. Your companion has a new story.
The newness of wonder doesn’t end with repetition. Repetition reinforces the wonder.
When you see the canyon at its bottom, you see enormous and unbelievably massive foundations of pure rock through which the Colorado River slashes in its inexorable, almost eternal quest to find the ocean 300 miles away.
For me, these walls evoke the words of the Psalmist when he says, “He (God) set the earth on its foundations so that it should never be moved.” (Psalm 104:5) Being at the canyon floor and looking up at thousands of feet of that pure might - a great foundation - makes me feel small.
In a good way. It has a healthy effect to diminish your pride. (Focus on the magnificence)
The second wonder?
New to me; I saw it just a few months ago. Actually, I saw “them”.
Victoria Falls. Zambia.
It is incomparable. The scale defies a painting, a photo or even your memory. The video above is just a slice of the actual experience.
Like the Grand Canyon, you cannot take it all in at once. It’s impossible.
My first impression was from the air. The Falls are not in some isolated place. They are near some fairly large communities in southern Zambia and northern Zimbabwe. A commercial airport is 20 minutes away.
Flying into that airport, I saw the Zambezi River - a wide behemoth of a waterway that cuts through the savannah and then…
Where is it?
It seems to disappear near that smoke.
Except that it’s not smoke. It’s water.
It’s the falls. The river hits those falls and seemingly disappears.
The falls are a wonder for innumerable reasons, but the most incredible thing is the scale. A river a couple of hundred yards wide spills over this rim, dropping a hundred feet or so into a chasm as wide of the river, but within 50 feet or so is forced into a narrow gorge.
Because there is so much water pouring over the falls and it has to go through this impossibly small funnel, there is an excess that splashes into the sky and which can be seen for miles.
Not only that, but a small area of land near the falls gets so much of this splash that it actually creates a rain forest microclimate. This ,in an area that is most decidedly not a jungle, but high desert as you can see.
And it makes me think. Because like so many of us, I do not stop to contemplate the magnificence. And it should not take visiting two of the seven wonders of the world to do that.
There is magnificence in a baby’s laugh. There is sublime beauty in an athlete running for the prize. There is joy in a simple meal, prepared by someone you love.
God places amazing wonders in our world; things whose awesomeness no sane person can deny. Maybe He does that to get our attention. Maybe He says, “You’re so used to the grace of a sunset portrait or a moonlit snowfall that I have to show off a little to get your attention to My handiwork, to Who and What I am.”
More’s the pity, though the showing-off part is still pretty cool.
Try this: Look at your hand. Spend a few minutes really examining it. Look at the bones, the nails, the fingers; even the imperfections.
Is it not amazing?
Yes, it’s magnificent. The design is perfect! But you probably don’t give it much thought. So God has to find other ways to get your attention and see the world for what it is - a custom-designed home full of beautiful surprises.
The magnificence can come from a wonder like a trillion gallons of water passing over a falls for one time - and one time only - before moving on downstream. Or it can come from a kiss from your life’s true love. Someone you’ve kissed a million times, but it never gets old.
It all depends upon your focus. (on the magnificence)
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