Sedona, Arizona
There was no way I could have known it when I took this photograph.
That morning I had been wandering the winding streets of Jerome, Arizona, exploring the remnants of the old copper mining town. Then I looked across the Verde Valley and saw them for the first time.
Far in the distance, rising above the desert floor, stood the great red rock cliffs.
They stopped me in my tracks.
Something about them stirred a longing I couldn’t explain. It felt as though the landscape itself was extending an invitation. I couldn’t yet see their details or appreciate their scale, but I knew—with surprising certainty—that I needed to go there.
So I did.
That spontaneous decision became the adventure of the afternoon.
First Glimpse of Sedona
Snoopy Rock Formation
If you look carefully to the right of the towering formation, you can see Snoopy stretched out on his back, forever daydreaming beneath an Arizona sky.
Worth the Climb
The climb was worth every step.
The raw beauty of this desert landscape filled my soul much the way sunlight fills the countless crevices of the red rocks each day—quietly, steadily, bringing warmth to places I hadn’t realized were waiting for it.
I hadn’t expected to be so deeply moved by the desert.
But standing there, surrounded by cliffs that seemed almost timeless, I found myself thinking less about the rocks themselves and more about the One who imagined them into existence.
Isaiah asks a series of breathtaking questions:
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?”
— Isaiah 40:12
The grandeur of Sedona doesn’t end with admiration of creation.
It points beyond itself.
I know who has measured the waters, weighed the mountains, and fashioned every cliff and canyon with perfect wisdom.
And He alone is worthy of my worship.
If you look to the right of this towering rock formation, you can see Snoopy laying on his back, undoubtedly daydreaming while watching animals form from the clouds in the sky.
The raw beauty of this desert land filled my soul like sunshine fills the crevices of the red rocks day in and day out, nourishing me in deep and mysterious ways that I cannot explain. I did not expect this, but I welcomed it.
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” Isaiah 40:12.
I know who has done such a thing, and I worship Him.