Sometimes you just have to get away!

Friday (yesterday) was one of those days for me. I went to work as usual, and after I got done with my first job, I was finished for the day. I was done! I couldn’t go back to work. (This is one of the benefits of being self-employed — you don’t have to work when you don’t want to!) It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers blooming and I had to get out of the city and away from it all. If I stayed there any longer, I think I would have been physically sick…literally. The wilderness of Yehovah’s creation was calling me!

Thankfully, within in an hour’s drive (or a little longer sometimes) of my town, I can be in some of the most scenic spots on planet earth whether it’s the coast of the Pacific Ocean, the Cascade Mountains with their glaciated volcanic peaks or the mighty Columbia River Gorge.

Yesterday, I grabbed my day pack, my Bible and jumped into my truck and headed out. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but Yehovah led me to Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland, Oregon.  I hiked up a little over two miles and came to the famous Punch Bowl falls in the photos below. I hope you enjoy them. 

On the way upstream, walking along cliffs overlooking Eagle Creek, while I was drinking in the natural beauty around me, stopping to smell the wild flowers, and quenching my thirst from the streams along the way, I was in constant prayer — sometimes even praying in the Spirit — seeking the face and heart of our Father in heaven.

When I got there, I sat down on a rock by the steam with the roar of the waterfalls in the background surrounded by the moss and fern covered water-sculpted cliffs. I feasted on a sub-sandwhich I picked up en route, and then took out my Bible and began reading this weeks Torah portion (Ki Tisa, Exod 30:11–34:35). As I was reading the Word of Elohim in that pristine and stunningly beautiful place in his creation, I let his divine words wash over me as the cares and stress of this world quickly ebbed out of my soul. Like a deflated balloon, I could feel myself being inflated by the breath of Yehovah as my strength returned to me and my eyes and outlook on life brightened once again.

There were times when Yeshua had to get away from it all and go into the wilderness to pray, and be alone with the Father and to recharge his spiritual and physical batteries. The Gospels record several  such instances in the life of our Lord (Luke 5:16; 6:12; Mark 1:35; 6:46; John 6:15). I can relate to Yeshua in this.

When I got to Punch Bowl falls, I was dismayed to find about fifteen new age rock cairns piled up on the cobblestone beach of Eagle Creek. I’ve never seen this before like this. The mother earth and self-worshippers must have had a new age convention before I got there! Why do people feel they have to leave their mark (like a dog urinating on everything to mark its territory!) on Yehovah’s creation as if they could somehow improve the beauty of it? The arrogance and self-centeredness of man!

As I was studying this week’s Torah portion there at Eagle Creek, I read where Yehovah instructed the Israelites to destroy the altars and idols of the heathen (Exod 34:13). So guess what I did? Like Gideon, I obeyed the Torah and kicked the rock idols over— monuments to men’s egos and to the secular humanist gods that fallen man bows and scrapes before— and returned the beach to its unspoiled and pristine condition. It made me feel better to know that I was taking a stand for righteousness, even if only in that remote place. It was still a poke in the devil’s eye and a vote for Yehovah Elohim!

I came away from that spot spiritually and physically buoyed and uplifted — until I had to fight the rush hour freeway traffic getting back home to my humble abode. Once thee, we welcomed in the Sabbath as we enjoyed a wonderful erev Shabbat dinner lovingly prepared by my 18 year-old sweetheart daughter, Michaela. Thank you Kaeli!

Here are some photos I snapped of my little excursion. Enjoy!

The trail up Eagle Creek leading to Punch Bowl Falls