On those occasions when Barby is able to travel with me, we are stealing a few days and going off together to enjoy the sights a bit. Earlier this week, after arriving in Phoenix, we headed up to Flagstaff (‘up’ is the operative word – 7230 feet up!). I had been there 38 years earlier when I took my $99 Greyhound Bus from Chicago to LA, after saying good-bye to Barby. This time she was with me. A welcome change.
After a day in nearby Sedona, we set off on the 3 hour drive up to Monument Valley, just inside the Utah border (where the first thing to be seen, almost, was a Mormon church). It is famous for providing movies and commercials with a memorable backdrop – but it is also a centerpiece of the Navajo nation.
My, oh my?! Reminiscent of the visit to Scotland last year (photos here and here), I couldn’t soak up the scenery enough. A visual buffet of substantial proportions. I gorged myself on what filled the horizon – and have spent a fair bit of time proseltyzing Americans ever since – because so many have never been there!
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| Each rock-mountain is named. This one is ‘the mittens’. I thought a little juxtaposition might help… |
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| This is ‘totem pole’. [Check out Clint Eastwood in The Eiger Sanction]. |
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| This is something like ‘snoopy-on-his-back’. |
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
Emma loved the photos. She said she'd never ever seen a real desert before.
It is quite different from the Desert Road – and it does have a beauty of its own. Much love to Emma from us both (and the rest of you!).
Wow! Great shots – love the comparisons: mitten and Snoopy. What a great Creator we have. So glad you have these moments to share together. Love to you both. RnD