[Terry Pluto wrote this about a recent visit to Wyoming and it made my heart
thump]
There are some images of heaven with angels floating on clouds and playing
harps, or perhaps of heaven as a never-ending church service where people
sing and pray until they drop. I don’t know what heaven will be like, but I
doubt either of those portraits is correct.
Last Saturday, I flew to Denver to cover the Browns game. I’m not sure what
that 27-6 loss to Denver was; it sure wasn’t heaven.
But the day before that game, I went to southern Wyoming and thought a lot
about heaven.
I drove down roads where I saw more pronghorn antelope than I did cars and
people. I drove down roads where I saw signs reading, “Next services, 34
hours.” I drove down roads where, when it snows, they drop gates and close
the interstates until the storm passes.
I drove down roads under high skies and huge clouds that seemed to rise up
to the heavens. I drove down roads through miles of open pastures, roads
where my cell phone was long out of range.
I drove down roads that made me think of a line from novelist Dan O’Brien:
“You have a sense that everyone can see you, but no one is looking.”
That may bother some people, who are uneasy about all the rugged, lonely
hills and valleys.
For those who love a crowd and the 50-percent-off sale at the mall, a state
with 522,830 people and an estimated 550,000 antelope may not have much
appeal.
I have been to Wyoming at least a dozen times. On each visit, I think how
the land is not tamed by man. Some mountains are too high, some rivers too
wild, some storms too fierce.
I know that there are days when Wyoming can seem like hell on earth during a
blizzard, a dust storm, or with a blown radiator in the middle of nowhere
and no one around to call for help.
But I didn’t think of that as I drove south of Laramie. I saw several herds
of pronghorns — 10 over here, 25 there, at least 50 ahead on top of the
hill. For 10 miles, not a single car was on the road.
In Isaiah 65:17, God says, “Behold, I will create a new heaven and a new
earth.”
I had a taste of it as I drove west on Wyoming 130 into the Snowy Mountains.
They rose 10,000 feet with the sun peeking behind snow-capped peaks. Rather
than spend any time wondering how such a place was created, I was in awe of
God’s hand and power behind it all.
Then I saw a truck on the other side of the road, a man standing near it,
staring into the woods. I slowed down and spotted a huge horse with antlers
… only, it was a moose in a clearing. I stopped and walked over to the
man.
“There’s four of ’em,” he said. Then a female moose and two young ones
ambled out from behind some bushes, joining the big bull. We watched them
silently for about five minutes, me wondering what exactly got into God when
he created a strange creature like a moose. Sheer entertainment, I suppose.
Finally, the four moose disappeared back in the woods. The other man and I
left, too, nodding to each other but not saying a word.
First Corinthians 2:9 reads: “As it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has
heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
But that Saturday in Wyoming, I was given just a glimpse.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”