A Grand Adventure...

Recently, there has been something about the Grand Canyon that has just intrigued me.

I've never been there before, nor have I really ever seen any good pictures of it, and anyways, I'm not sure a picture would be able to capture the vastness of it if I had seen many. The fascination all started when I read this book called "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller. This is undoubtedly one of my favourite books, and I've read it many times, dipping into it countless more.

In this book, he describes a road trip he takes across the USA with a friend of his, stopping at different places along the way. It's not a book that sounds too deep, and in fact, it's not really, but there's something about it that speaks to my soul. So, I read it...

At about the half way section, him and his friend Paul go to the Grand Canyon, and hike down into its depths to camp for a night before coming up out again.

To be honest, I never really knew what the Grand Canyon was, I didn't get how deep it was.. It's a mile deep. A mile. That's about 4 times the height of the Empire State building.

We don't really think of a mile as that long a distance when we're measuring ALONG the ground, but how about down? That's pretty deep...


There's this thing called the "Sky Walk" which you can walk out on, and look down into the Grand Canyon. Looking into the depths. Standing on top of this walk way that is suspended a mile above the ground. As someone who used to have a fear of open stairs...this may not seem like the most ideal of ideas, yet there's something about it that both fills me with fear, and that thrill of adventure.


On Wednesday I am going to Rwanda. I am taking a team of five people out to Rwanda for 4 weeks, and then on to Burundi for 6 weeks. At the minute, I can feel a bit of that sense of fear. I feel like I'm standing at the top of this adventure, looking down. There is that fear, but also that great sense of adventure. These are 5 people that I've spent my last four months with, sharing our lives and walking with God, growing in our relationship and trying to be more like him.

But, just as the Grand Canyon is a long way down. Rwanda and Burundi seem so distant right now. I think I'm ready just to jump into it (Africa...not the Grand Canyon...)

Stay tuned here for more details of our journey. I'll hopefully be a better blogger while I'm away!

This is the team!

Back Row: Jack (Israel), Tom (me...)
Front Row: Nosipho (South Africa), Stephanie (USA), Amalia (Canada), Megan (USA/Japan)