HOPE in what is real: Advent Week 2 the YNP edition

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

I’ve had a fascination with mud since I was a little girl. You see, in North Dakota where I grew up, the rich farming soil soaks up the rain. And when it rains a lot, you are going to put on those rubber boots because you were going to be slugging through MUD. One of my mom’s favorite stories is when I was around 6 and I made an outdoor kitchen out of sticks and old pieces of board so that I could assemble and bake my mud pies. I was a busy girl, let me tell you! I’ll have you know that 40 plus years later, I am still completely mesmerized by mud. BOILING mud, that is. Because Yellowstone National Park is packed with areas where the mud boils right there on the ground. And I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!

BOILING MUD AT YNP

Not only have I seen boiling mud, but I have been ON THE TOP OF a volcano. You see, Yellowstone National Park is inside the crater of a volcano so big that if it blew, most of the United States would be covered in volcanic ash.

OLD FAITHFUL

The volcano that the park sits on is called a super volcano because of how large the blast radius would be if it blew. Some volcanos are “dead”, but the super volcano beneath Yellowstone is very much active. We know that it is active because of things like boiling mud on the ground there and geysers like Old Faithful that blow hot water and steam out from beneath the ground where the super volcano sits. There is also steam coming out of the ground throughout the park. Vern took this weird picture of a buffalo herd standing in the steam that was pouring out of a hillside.

BUFFALO STANDING IN THE STEAM

I remember standing next to one of the more active geysers watching all of this boiling hot water and steam gushing out of the rock. I could hardly believe that so much volcanic activity was just beneath my feet. My eyes told me it was real, but it still just didn’t seem real.

CASTLE GEYSER

I’ll bet the shepherds felt the same way that night Jesus was born. First, there’s this angel that appears announcing Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:9-12). I would be rubbing my eyes and wondering if what I was seeing and hearing was real or if I was dreaming. And THEN, I’ll bet they REALLY thought they were seeing things when MILLIONS of angels filled the night sky singing their famous song (Luke 2:13-14).

I want to see things that are so awesome it’s hard to believe that they’re real. Don’t you? That’s part of the reason why places like Yellowstone National Park fascinate me. But God has performed wonders that are way more awesome (Deuteronomy 10:21) than the park or even the millions of angels that sang Glory to God that first Christmas! And the things that God does or makes bring us HOPE. It is that kind of hope that the shepherds had when they rushed to find Jesus. A hope that seems almost too good to be real—but HE IS REAL.

I pray that today you will come to expect God to do such awesome things in your life that you find yourself rubbing your eyes and wondering if it’s real!

Family Time:

1. Play a game. Make a human log pile or a human pyramid using every member of your family. Be careful not to dive on top of those already in the pile—someone might get hurt and you want this to be a fun memory, not a trip to the ER. For a real challenge, try taking a selfie while in the human log pile. Talk about how the awesome memories you make as a family last a life time.
2. What are some things that you have seen that are really awesome? Did any of those things seem like they weren’t real because they were so awesome? Do you think seeing a million angels all at one time would seem like it wasn’t real? What do you think you would do if you saw something like that?
3. Deuteronomy 10:21 tells us that God has performed awesome wonders. One of those wonders is YOU. Did you know that? God thinks you are so awesome that He sings when He is with you (Zephaniah 3:17). Have other people in your family tell you some ways that God has made you awesome.
4. When the shepherds saw the angels that night, they were filled with hope and excitement. Why do you think they felt hopeful after seeing the angels? (Hint: read Luke 2:15-18)
5. As Christians, we believe in Jesus even though we have never seen Him. What makes Jesus real to you? What about Jesus makes you feel hopeful?