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Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. Indeed, a great many biblical figures spent time in vast wastelands. Maybe that is why I am driven and drawn to the desert west of Las Vegas.
With a backpack filled with cashews and a few liters of water, I make my way to Red Rock National Conservation Area. Peaks rise six and seven thousand feet from the ground like a phoenix stretching into the blue sky above, flexing broad brushed swatches of red, white and gray rocks.
The wilderness of Red Rock, the starkness of the desert landscape, the barren, dusty, dry rock crumbling and crackling under each step, the sharp pointed cacti, the eerie quiet — all remind me of the wilderness where Jesus experienced his temptation before he began his public ministry.
I have hiked the trails of Red Rock, traversed the blank rock faces, climbed boulders the size of casinos, lowered myself into crevices large enough to swallow tour buses and ultimately scaled the peaks. This wilderness is where I find peace, comfort and solace.
It is in the wilderness that I am drawn to the One who is the fountain of the living water of which we drink. Indeed, the wilderness is where God fashions streams of grace.
During our Lenten journey, to what wilderness will you be driven, in order to experience exceptional closeness and fellowship with the God of peace?
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