There was one thing I did not appreciate on the Alaskan cruise: jewelry stores. They were everywhere. In one town I think we counted seventeen on a street about as long as HEB. It’s not that I have anything against jewelry, I was just tired of overpriced sellers advertising at me. It all seemed so unnecessary compared to the beauty around us. One town, different from the one above, felt like a battle between the national park service preserving history and the jewelry stores trying to squeeze in another storefront.
In that town, there was a trickle of people of people moving from the ships through the stores and past the railyard at the back of town. We fell into that stream. A couple of miles from the dock was a waterfall. After the stores, I was in a disappointed mood and was a bit cynical about the waterfall. I like waterfalls in theory, but I generally find they are oversold. More of a water trickle than a waterfall.
I was wrong. This waterfall did not disappoint. The water came thundering down from higher than we could even see, tossing a cooling mist all along the bank. The flow was strong enough I secretly agreed with Obrei refusing to let me try to cross it. It was God’s creation at its finest. Even more so when we learned several people trying to find it did not know where they were going. They just followed others and hoped for the best.
It was a reminder hope can be fulfilled. We can find God’s beauty around any corner, and I think it has more to do with our perspective than anything else. Even if the waterfall had seemed piddly, I could have found beauty in it. Maybe I even could in a jewelry store.
Blessings,
Pastor Luke