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IS THAT GUY EVEN RESTING?

Let me describe the place that we lived in for a couple months this past fall and where you might visit if you join our trip there in January.

Driving up to McCall from the airport in Boise takes you along a winding canyon in which the Payette river is flowing south. Rising above this river on either side are mountains filled with conifers. The pine trees are a lush carpet of vertical flames licking the sky.

Lodgepole, ponderosa, spruce, and fir trees are different shades of green. They are accented by occasional specks or patches of the golden Tamaracks. These Tamaracks are sometimes alone and sometimes in groups, and they make the mountains spectacular.

As a tree, they are not as stately or majestic as the Red Fir or Ponderosas. These grow nearly 200 feet tall. But what they lack in stateliness they make up for in the spice they add to the larger and greener mountainside. The Tamarack turns yellow and loses its needles every year like a deciduous tree but looks like its truer evergreen cousins. They turn the mountains into a kaleidoscope of greens, golds, and yellows.

I’ve noticed the shades of greens in these forests are much like the shades of blue we see and recognize in our oceans. Our ocean blue is beautiful in part because of all the depths and shades of blue within it. The reefs or sandy bottom or waves add welcome hues to the larger blue ocean surrounding us. The forest is a little like that, a sea of deep greens sprinkled yellow, red, or gold.

We came in the autumn. Even the forest floor changes colors. Craggy but lush, sometimes heathery red, a blanket of tiny flowers spreads itself under the needled ceiling above. Sometimes the branches are laden with snow. The brilliant white and green adorned with gold and red makes it feel very Christmasy. It was a beauty I didn’t expect.

All the colors of fall blew us away and moved us to praise. Often, we had to stop and marvel at the richness of the red-colored leaves on an oak tree. The depth of the oranges in the other deciduous trees was a rich gradient. I don’t know all the varieties of these trees, but they make for a spectacular display of the richest colors you’ve ever seen.

McCall is at the north end of a 40-mile valley that the canyon opens up into. The valley is roughly the size of Oahu as far as land goes. It takes roughly an hour to drive from one end to the other. Around fifteen thousand people live in these valley towns of Cascade, Donnelly, and McCall.

At the north end is McCall. It is perched on Lake Payette and flanked by Little Payette. These lakes flow south through the valley, into lake Cascade, and down the canyon.

The valley is about 10 miles wide and filled with Cattle and open space. Imagine Oahu with 15-30 thousand people (lots of tourists come). The plains turn into rolling hills at the valley's peripheral, and the rolling hills turn into steeper slopes more thickly forested.

On the east and west, mountains rise to embrace the well-watered valley floor below. We are almost a mile high at 5000 feet of elevation. The sky looks different up here. In McCall, the stars and moon look a little bit closer.

Our house is within walking distance to the lakefront and just near Ponderosa State Park. What a park! 1500 acres of a forested peninsula jutting into the middle of Lake Payette is a great place to hike, jog or ride a mountain bike. In the winter, it’s a show-shoeing and Nordic skiing wonderland.

Outside my house near Wildhorse park, a woodpecker jackhammers away on a tall Lodgepole pine. He runs up and around the trunk 80’ up. I tried to film him but knew I was too late. He’s up too far now. Deer regularly nibble in our yard and recline outside the house. Chipmunks chirp loudly (yes, they sound like angry birds) as if yelling for you to get off their lawn. You can hear the wings of a raven overhead as it powerfully flaps above the needles.

These things have been my physical perspective here, and it has been absolutely spectacular. I sometimes imagine those who’ve read my newsletters wondering what kind of pastor on sabbatical writes about news stories and covid issues. “Is that guy even resting?”

Well, I am resting in the Lord, that is for sure, but I am not without activity. One thing I must say is that I haven’t rested in my care for you all. I think about you and your families nearly every day. We pray for you quite often while filled with concern and care. We missed you and often wished to have had you with us.

I have stayed in touch with the activity of the church and things in Hawaii. I fear a tsunami of cruel tyranny will soon inundate our islands, and I pray that the Lord would be for us the higher ground we will need to flee to. “I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, and He who watches over you will never slumber. Yes, He who keeps Israel will never slumber.” This is Psalm 121, and I think a good place to find refuge in these trying days.

By the way, did you know that? “The Lord watches over you. He is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night.” This is what He promises to be for you in this Psalm. It is a promise to you. “The LORD will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life.”

I want you to meditate on this and incorporate it into your life. These days are rough, but they are tolerable because we have a Good Shepherd who leads us. Not only that, but it says, “the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

I have spent the last seven weeks in awe of our magnificent Creator. I believe the principle of God’s rest can be learned from an appreciation of His creation. I get this idea from the Lord’s Sabbath day law, ‘for in six days the Lord God created the heavens and the earth, and rested the seventh day” (Exo 20:11). This phrase tells me that, in order to truly rest, I ought to reflect on God’s work. One of the most obvious ways to appreciate God’s work is by enjoying it. I ought to reflect on the goodness of God’s creation even as He did that first sabbath. I am cleansed and healed from the labors and worries of life through such recreation and reflection.

This past Sunday, I was with you again in the congregation. It was sweet to see you and worship with you. I was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming interest in our church trip in January. It’ll be a time of spiritual renewal and rest with our church family. It may even be a sort of mission trip since there has been interest in a church plant in McCall. Pray about going, and let us know if you’re interested.