We are experiencing God’s presence in unique ways in this in-between season of life–anticipating what is to come and rejoicing in what God has done.

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““When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.””

<figcaption class="source">— John Muir</figcaption>
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In May, our family journeyed up into the Sierra Nevada wilderness just to the east of Yosemite National Park. Our goal for this time was to experience a part of the country we had never visited–Yosemite National Park. However, just days before leaving for this excursion, we discovered that the Tioga pass–the only access point to the park from our area–was closed due to heavy snow. Ultimately, we decided to make the trek together and enjoy our experience just to the east of Yosemite National Park, in a small town called Mammoth Lakes. This vacation will forever be known as “Not Yosemite”, but in the end it was quite enjoyable and refreshing.

On this trip, we discovered several unique trails that took us on journeys into the landscape surrounding us. One of our final hikes was to Parker Lake, a small but gorgeous lake on the north end of the June Lake loop (just north of Mammoth Lakes). We parked our van, read the sign informing us that we were entering “bear country”, and set off along the creek which would eventually lead us to the lake. Along the path of this hike were a great variety of plant life–most of which I couldn’t come close to naming. One tree that stood out was a particular type of pine tree consisting of lighter brown bark which had deep crevices, and whose branches were angled straight out at ninety degree angles from the trunk. These trees were soaring in the sky and as we passed one, we decided to stop and take some pictures around this enormous tree. A passerby stopped and asked us if we had smelled this tree yet. Which I felt was a fairly strange, but engaging question. We hadn’t yet smelled it. She said that the bark of this particular tree, the Jeffrey Pine smelled distinctly like butterscotch. Without much pause, we stuck our noses up and into the large cracks in the bark. Sure enough, you would’ve thought you had been transported to a candy store. It was a pleasant surprise–one difficult to capture on camera.

Our “Butterscotch smells”

Reflecting on this experience has me thinking about the small and delightful things God does in the midst of our larger journey. Things unexpected, undeserved, and without intentional pause, unseen. The following are some of the observable “butterscotch smells” that I thank God for placing in our lives.

Butterscotch #1: The warmth and friendship of a healthy, Gospel-driven church.

A little less than a year ago, our family transitioned to a church in Chandler where I came on staff as a Church Planting Apprentice. This move was filled with loss, because our sending church was so much like family to us. We arrived at this church in Chandler and were immediately received with a warmth that was truly inspiring. One mark of the Gospel having its way with us is that hospitality grows ever stronger in our lives and hearts. Now, biblical hospitality doesn’t have much to do with throwing a dinner party for your friends, being a seasoned interior decor expert, or being the house that your family descends on for the thanksgiving meal. It has to do more directly with the unexpected welcoming of strangers into your home and life. This is exactly what we experienced in coming to the church. We were strangers, and they welcomed us into their homes and lives in profound and humbling ways.

Another aspect of our time at this church was the way in which the Gospel-shaped liturgy directed our attention and affection to Jesus. Common to the Reformed Tradition, our corporate worship service was composed of numerous elements that each week directed our minds and hearts to consider the deep and wide love of God expressed through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The liturgy itself seemed to almost plead with us to place our faith–our confidence, trust, belief–in the person and work of Jesus. This happening each week has had a significant impact on our family, and has inadvertently shaped our vision for the purpose and beauty of God’s People gathering together on the Lord’s Day.

Butterscotch #2: The transformation of our family’s life of prayer.

One small but significant surprise during this season is the way our children have begun praying. I’ve noticed over the last several months, their prayers become more specific, tangible, and bold. We all sometimes pray the wide-open prayers for “peace for those who are hurting” etc., but this journey into planting a church has stirred our imaginations as a family to think about: the new neighborhood we will be inhabiting, the new schools we will be attending, the new congregations we will be serving, the new community we will be getting to know, etc. Also, this transition has come with loads of very particular items of prayer, such as: Lord, we ask that you would sell our house. This is a current request and one often repeated or elaborated on, such as: Lord, bring along a loving family that would be a blessing to our neighbors, whom we love dearly. The way in which God has chosen to shape our prayer life as a family through this journey has been so richly encouraging.

Butterscotch #3: The way God has prepared our family to love greatly through fostering.

The third aspect that I can’t help but notice is God’s providential timing in our lives. Three and half years ago, we all entered into a journey of fostering. We weren’t sure exactly what this would mean for us as a family, how it would change us, how it would stretch us, but we knew that faithfulness to the Gospel was pulling us into this ‘dark forest’, as it were, so we could, by God’s grace, discover what He wanted to do in us. Over the course of two and a half years, we shared our lives with three different children–one a young boy and the other two brothers. All three affected us deeply as a family, and God used the experience of fostering to show us what it looked like to trust Him in real time. We arrived at a point in the journey where Elizabeth and I were not sure if we could continue–the road was too difficult and we felt ill-equipped for what we sensed was needed. God used this moment to humble us and cause us to ask for help–for two very independent people, that was miraculous. Through the years, we have stayed connected with the kids and their families. They affect our prayers nearly every week, and are on our minds constantly. As I reflect on this season of our lives, it seems that God was preparing our hearts to love to greater degrees and even in wider ways than we previously had experienced. I thank Him for this!

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While in the Sierra Nevada wilderness, we could hardly escape the monumental figure John Muir. He was a man who spent a significant amount of his life advocating for the federal preservation of large portions of wilderness. Some of those areas include Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park. I know very little of him respectively, but from what I do know, I deeply admire his singular dedication and perseverance. Take a moment to observe his brilliance with this quote: When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.

Muir was onto a creational reality–that everything in our world sits within an interconnected creational context, and therefore everything is connected to the Creator. Try as you might to separate a piece of creation, you are only fooling yourself–everything that exists has its origin in God. I’m desiring to have my eyes opened wider–to take in those unexpected, un