Tuesday, April 6: White as snow!

Sunday night about 5 p.m., the snow started to fall in Yosemite National Park. I had dinner with friends from Laguna Beach, Cheryl and Rick Smith and their children Ryan and Kevin, who were in the campground next to mine. After dinner, I returned to the tent with man’s best friend, Whitney, in tow. I read for a while, and then went to sleep around 9:00, with the pleasant sound of snow mixed with rain falling on the roof of the tent. That pleasant sound changed during the night, as the tent was being barraged by clumps of snow falling from the treetops hundreds of feet above. Around 4 a.m., with the tent continuing to sag, I vacated for my solid-state truck.


Whitney and I slept in the truck for a couple hours, overlooking the tent that was flat as a pancake. I brought a three-season tent, instead of a winter tent, not expecting the enormous snowfall. A year earlier, we were in shorts and T-shirts part of the time. Around 6 a.m., I drove around the Yosemite valley and was the only one on the road, apart from the snow plows. My four-wheel drive truck was certainly road worthy, even on the pre-plowed roads, now covered in over a foot of snow. I headed back to the camp, and walked through the pristine wilderness alone. It was silent, apart from the occasional dumping of snow from an overhanging tree.


It was breathtakingly beautiful. Rather than being disgruntled from the tent disaster and lack of sleep, I was praising the Lord for His artistic hand of creation. I took a number of photos, though there was no sunlight. While walking around with tears in my eyes, a “neighbor” exited his extra-large, heated RV with a warm smile on His face. “Isn’t God’s creation magnificent,” he said. Within moments, we were discussing the gift of salvation and God’s handiwork. Of course, we know what Bible verse came to mind:


18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
 Isaiah 1:18


The whiteness of snow is almost blinding, and just a spot of blood would soil that color. Yet He removes that stain from our lives. I don’t know about you, but my life sure had a lot more than a spot of blood on it. It was a massacre. Through His hand, His miracle, the sin blemish has been removed! What a glorious day in the Lord’s creation!


The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
 Psalm 19:1