Sunsets

I've spent more time than I care to think about in airplanes the last few days, but have been given some incredible gifts.

On Monday as I rode into Tulsa from the airport I saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. The ten or so tall buildings of downtown Tulsa were silhouetted by a clear, bright, deep blood color sky---a color that never, ever appears in Chicago sunsets. It only lasted about five minutes.....but what a beautiful five minutes.

Tuesday I was treated to yet another beautiful sunset. As we approached Phoenix I saw a layer of gray clouds in the upper sky and another layer of clouds near the ground. In between the cloud layers, however, peeked the sun - not the red of Oklahoma but a bright, bright yellow-orange. As I watched through the little airplane window more and more of the orange sun appeared to the point where it really hurt to look at it....but I kept on watching until it finally sunk into the lower layer of clouds. How exciting to see a sunset sandwich!

Today, my sunset experience was different but no less exciting. We flew north from Phoenix passing over Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon before heading northwest to Portland. What an incredible treat to not see the sun but to see the sparkly reflection of the sun on the already orange hills of Sedona,,,,then a few minutes later see that same reflection of the sunset on the Grand Canyon. I remember how odd it is to approach the Grand Canyon by car - you drive along flat land for a long time and then, all of a sudden, you are at the edge of the canyon. From the air it is even more amazing. Gray flat land and suddenly there is this huge, huge hole and, from the air, you see ALL of it at once. Totally unbelievable!

Tomorrow we are driving to Seattle. It will be wonderful to not have to go through security, drag suitcases miles through concourses, eat lousy airport food, and be crammed in a airplane with hundreds of other people......but I surely have been gifted with wonderful reminders of the glories of creation in the midst of all the human hassles of airplane travel. And what a needed reminder! Thanks God!