Beauty in a Caldera

"I will make rivers flow on barren heights,

and springs within the valleys.

I will put in the desert 

the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set junipers in the wasteland, 

the fir and the cypress together,

so that people may see and know,

may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

Isaiah 41:18-20

This past week I had an incredible opportunity to camp with a group of Christian science-lovers at Paulina Lake within Newberry National Monument in Bend, Oregon. It was phenomenal. The beauty we experienced was no where near captured in the lens of a camera; you seriously just need to go there and absorb it yourself! 

The first day we arrived, several of us went for a hike around the rim of the lake- a lake that fills  a caldera of a once very active Newberry Volcano. Bright blue skies and soft white clouds above, lush greenery and clear blue waters to the right and left, and delicate foliage amongst rugged volcanic rock below... all working together to overwhelm me with their sheer beauty. With each passing step came new reminders of God’s creativity and unsurpassed glory, fresh opportunities to “rejoice in his whole world” (Prov. 8:31). It was a spectacular hike pointing directly to God’s infinite beauty and majesty.

However, I was hit later with the realization that the stunning scenery surrounding me was once a desolate volcanic wasteland blanketed with molten lava and ashen debris. The past contained a hideous mess. I had great difficulty trying to imagine the blue skies saturated with heavy, gray smoke and the green trees scorched from the heat. How could something so glorious in the present have been so wretched in the past? There were remnants of the harsh volcanic activity, but even the jagged lava rock along the paths looked grand in the gleaming sunlight. Yet this vibrant monument really was a conglomeration of death destruction in the past!

As I had a chance to step back and reflect on the incredible transformation that took place for the caldera to convert from a volcanic wasteland into a vivacious wonderland, I was reminded of God’s heart to transform. He was there when the volcano erupted unleashing tumultuous chaos and wreaking havoc on the scene. He let the lava stream and the ash spew knowing the imminent decay. 

Yet, God didn’t leave the barren land in its state of depravation. Just as the present scenery reflected God’s beauty, it equally reflected his grace. He reached down and breathed life into death, hope into despair, joy into desolation...just as he offers to breathe life into you and me. 

Regardless of where I’ve been in my journey with Christ (both prior to and after being saved), I’m in desperate need of God’s transformational grace daily. My life without Christ’s active presence is just as dead as the caldera’s vacant landscape of debris and ash- void of breath, destined for decay, completely lacking abundant life. He alone can take this broken vessel and transform it into something marvelous...into something that points directly to his unsurpassed love and grace...into something beautiful.

2 Cor. 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”