The Klamath River and shooting stars

People experience God in different ways. One of the ways I do that is through His creation. It could be hiking through the redwood trees or bobbing on my board waiting for the next wave. I just got back from a white-water rafting trip down the Klamath River in Nor Cal. Those days were full of fun, laughter, and me praising God for the beauty He has made that we get to enjoy. Here are my highlights from the trip:

- Gotta love 9 hour car rides crammed in a 15 passenger van. Hilarious conversations and MASH ensued.

- the rapids! Woohoo! So much fun. "Dragon's Tooth" and "Rattlensake" were the best. Class III or IV, I believe. And I don't think anyone from our group fell out. Sweet.

-I have never gone rock-jumping before and I did it! It was only 10 or 15 feet, but it was so much fun! TONS of water up the nose, though.

- We hiked to a waterfall on the first day. After jumping over this one rock so we wouldn't get bitten by a rattlensnake that crawled under it (I think I jumped over it and yelled, "I'M GONNA DIE!!!" but I was ok) we made our way to this gorgeous double waterfall. Some people swam up between the two falls but I went around and got pushed down by the strong water. Scary! Luckily, a friend grabbed my arm and pulled me out. I guess you appreciate something a lot more if you have to work hard for it. =)

- We saw a bald eagle chasing an osprey in the air right above our raft. One guide said he thought the osprey had a fish and the eagle was chasing him to snag it. Go, baldie, go!

- I swear, I saw probably close to 136 dragonflies gettin' it ON just on the first day alone. They were EVERYWHERE. They were super colorful and beautiful, but definitely getting some loving. Some couples even had the audacity to land on my leg, as if I would be ok with that. I would quickly blow them off and they'd be on their merry way. Enjoy, little ones.

- The second day, our raft was lucky enough to have Charis, my boss' 3 year old daughter. Which meant we could attack other rafts as much as we wanted during water-fights, but if they tried to retaliate, we'd scream, "No! We have Charis! Don't get us!!" Hahaha *evil laugh* We rock.

- At one point, we all got to jump out of the rafts and ride a rapid ourselves! Feet forward, of course. (Safety first) It was so dang fun. I was lifted up and down in the water like a baby. I felt so ALIVE! =)

- We hiked to a place called "Clear Creek". Clear is RIGHT. The water was this pretty blue and completely see-through. And also completely freezing. So I chilled in the water watching little fish, an orange lobster/crawdad thingy, and friends rock-jump.

And lastly, one of my biggest highlights was on the second night we were there. After dinner, I went off with my dear friend Holly. We lay on the rafts by the river and had a "heart" convo. While we were talking, the sun went down and the stars came out. AMAZING NIGHT!!!! Oh my gosh, you guys. Being away from city lights, it felt like we could see every star in the sky. We even saw the Milky Way. And while we were talking, God gave us a little show: shooting stars. I was just awestruck. They were flying all over the sky. Two good friends having a deep talk, listening to the crickets and frogs, bats flapping above us, seeing a skunk waddle right by us, watching the stars fly and explode into nothingness. It was the most incredible night.

My mind was reminded of a couple verses in Pslams that put into words what I was feeling. So I had to go and look it up. It is in Psalms 19:1-2:

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
Night after night they display knowledge."

Ok, how cool are those verses?! Go ahead and read them again. The heavens declare the GLORY of God. Man, I experienced God during this trip. Not just on the water (being surrounded by the hills covered with green trees) but at nighttime, when I looked up at His heavens. Thank you, God, for the Klamath River and shooting stars. What a great trip.


Disclaimer: I have NO idea who those people are in the rafting picture...I just snagged it off the internet. =) Ha!