A Once in a Lifetime Experience

On July 22, 1980, at around 5 p.m., about 30 miles east of Rainer, Washington, I sat alone on the hood of my car in an empty dirt parking lot looking northward.  All northbound travel beyond this point was prohibited.  Roads were blocked.  I had just finished a 2-week backpacking trip in northwestern Washington with some buddies as we tried climbing Glacier Peak.  Now, on my way home, there was something here I wanted to see.

The sky was clear except for some low-lying clouds that obscured the mountain peaks in front of me.  Somewhere among those peaks was Mt. St. Helens.  Two months earlier, on the morning of May 18th, she blew tons of ash across the western United States in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions America had ever seen.  A week later a minor eruption occurred during a rainstorm.  No one saw it except circling airplane cameras.  On June 12 the mountain blew again, sending a column of ash 9 miles high.  But no one saw it either because that eruption occurred during the night. 

As I scanned the horizon trying to identify the famous peak, a station wagon with California plates drove up next to me.  A husband and wife got out in hopes of seeing the mountain that had made front-page, world-wide news for several weeks.  We spread out a topographical map on the hood of my car and studied it.  Suddenly I looked up and saw a dark, monstrous column of black ash boiling swiftly upward into the clear blue sky.  “Hey,” I spoke to the couple, “I think I found it!” 

Within minutes the parking lot was filled with dozens of vehicles.  Some people were shouting, “Get out; get out! It's too dangerous!”  But I didn’t want to give up my front row seat to this once in a lifetime experience.  This was the 4th eruption of Mt. St. Helens, ejecting plumes of ash and smoke 10 miles into the sky.  Within moments we realized that the wind was carrying the sound of the eruption and the ash northward toward Canada.  I, along with many others, continued taking pictures for three hours until dark.

I shared this story, along with many others, as my family honored me on my 65th birthday.  The theme was ‘camping’, reflecting on the many backpacking trips I took, between high school and marriage, from the Tetons in Wyoming to the Sierras in California, from the Rockies in Colorado to the Cascades in Washington.  Every summer for seven years I would spend weeks hiking the rugged mountains of the west, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone.  God was always there to meet me, talk to me, and show me the beauty of His nature - both physical and spiritual.

In recent days I’ve had a significant decrease in appetite, an indication that my cancer is advancing.  Despite that, a family situation has compelled me to move to Marble Falls, Texas, later this month to be with Hannah and Daniel, and to help them take care of Nathaniel.  Please pray for all my family during these challenging days, that all of us will seek to glorify God in everything we say and do.  I hope your Christmas season gets off to a great start and that the peace and joy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will find their way into your hearts and homes.