What Happened on the Road Trip | Feat. Holly Janco & Calvin Go

What's up guys welcome to the God Venture podcast where we connect God in nature. So as you know our hosts normally like to go out on their own adventures and personal excursions out to the wilderness and recently this year a lot of our friends actually got together and went on a road trip. So this podcast we're going to be talking about some of the things that happen on that road trip and some of their favorite locations that they went to while they were out. So before we get into it we're going to have Robert share our verse that relates to some of the experiences that we're going to be talking about today. Hey how are you doing? Here's our verse for today. This is from Hebrews 12-22 but you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels and joyful assembly and we chose this verse as our first of the day because we're going to be talking about some of our experiences such as Zion National Park and the Bible Zion can mean a few different things but specifically in this verse is referencing this spiritual kingdom of God the heavenly Jerusalem. God's dwelling place with his people. So my favorite place that we went to out west was Zion National Park and Zion National Park was absolutely gorgeous. You're going through miles and miles of desert for who knows how long and also I remember we drove through this tunnel and you're like in an oasis and there's trees and there's a river and it's it for me it made me think of how the holy land was described in the Old Testament to Abraham. It's a land flowing with milk and honey out they come out of the wilderness and they just see this promised land and so we come out of our own wilderness in the desert and we see this beautiful location with beautiful peaks and greenery everywhere and the river flowing through it. So two of those locations at Zion National Park that I think everyone to try to visit is Angel Landing and the Narrows and so the first spot we went to when we were there was Angel's Landing and the hike is it's pretty strenuous it's really steep but it's really really cool it's the hike itself is carved out of the mountains so you're going in and out of the mountain there's one point where you look out over the valley and you can see just all the trees and the shrubs and you can see the the mountains forming out in the distance and the river flowing to the bottom kind of shining in the sun and you turn you continue up the mountain and it winds back and forth and back and forth and if you ever watch Lord of the Rings it's almost like it looks like Ministria thick on door and you get up to the top of the mountain and unfortunately we weren't able to do this part but there's a chain because of Corona there's a chain you can you can walk across to get to the very peak but even from where we were you get this view of all the valley and you can see they call it the Great White Throne and it's this big white peak right there that's another biblical reference and I think Angel's Landing is really cool because the verse also talks about the thousands of angels and joyful assembly and when you're up here looking out over Zion you can't help but just be in awe of God's creation it really fills your spirit with that fullness of joy to think God created this to glorify himself and for us to enjoy and to find pleasure in and so once you come down off Angel's Landing we decided to go to the Nero's and it's kind of funny we we had a trek all the way out there because the buses were closed and they closed the parking lot once a certain number of people get out there and as soon as we were like maybe a mile walking down there and also you just see all these cars driving past us because they opened the parking lot back up so that was a blast I have to know watch that and continue walking along and we get to the Nero's and the waters freezing cold and they recommend that you buy these special shoes or rent these special shoes for walking in them but we didn't do that we just we toughed it out and we suffered through it and we were walking through this freezing cold water but it's probably one of the coolest experiences you'll you'll ever get to enjoy because you're literally walking through a canyon and it's really really beautiful like a lot of like browns and green colors and reds and like in one minute you'll be in the shadows and then you'll walk back into the sun line here it's just a really cool experience so there's the two places and Zion that I would really recommend you hit if you ever go out west to Utah. That's awesome Robert so Calvin's going to share some things about us about his experience out the trip. Yeah so the posture I came into this trip or one of the cool that kind of resonates with me was came from Seas Lewis where he says I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else and we came upon Bryce Canyon on I believe it was our 10th day of the entire trip at this point where we're super tired but I knew that this was one of the most beautiful places that we were going to see and whenever someone would ask me about hey what was your favorite place that you visited during the trip like I have to say that this was it because I'm a visual person and I usually tell stories and you know in a way to explain the details of so they can person can actually see and visualize where they're visiting. When you show a photo of Bryce Canyon to anyone they can art you know it's almost as if you don't have to say anything about it because they can already see the grand the beauty the power the glory of literally of what God has created on this earth and so that was that's the first thing I want to talk about is that when we first God there we came upon an overlook and this overlook kind of imagine a place like the Grand Canyon where there's a crevice that contains rock formations but in this case the rock formations is formed in such a way honestly the way I describe it is similar to Mars like this was the one place that made us feel like we were not on this planet everything from seeing a hue of orange yellow red even in some places green basically these formations of rocks that were formed through you know again from the science of the flood cutting through stones in such a way that it basically built statues because when the Native Americans found it they thought that these were statues of people before that became monuments and because they again they were formed in such a way like a statues and Bryce Canyon is one of the most amazing thing about it is that not only we can see it an overlook of it but you can also go through it and basically be inside the canyon itself and again it makes me realize that I cannot believe that there's a place like this in this world that God has created for us to see that you know we can't find anywhere else around the world that's awesome Calvin thanks so much for sharing that so Holly has a couple things she wants to share about from her experience at Arches in Utah yeah one of my third parks is Arches and specifically one of my favorite hikes in Arches National Park is the Delicate Arch and that is a three mile round trip so I want to half miles up when half miles down Delicate Arch was probably the toughest hike I think it was because we tried to run up before to watch the sunset you know to make it on time for the sunset and we ate like 10 minutes before we ran up and Matt was like shoving macaroni down our throats because we need to eat more calories to rejuvenate our bodies but I was dying but when we made it to the top it was absolutely stunning like there was a beautiful sunset it's not directly behind the arch but it is off to the to the right side of the arch and I made it a goal to play so I like every sunset sunrise that we watch and so we were playing so well I and this one guy was like yeah you know it's better when you can see the sunset and silence too and I like almost started crying because I was like my favorite song right cool but the arch itself is 46 feet high and 32 feet wide it is the largest standing arch and Arches National Park and that alone is spectacular if you think about that but that was the most beautiful sunset I've seen on the road trip and that's what stood out the most to me on the hike yeah Arches is one of my favorites as well honestly like I mean of everywhere I've been like I think it's the most fun I think it's super cool to see I definitely agree with that and we also met some friends on the way down friends with them on the way down with their headlamps so it was good time and that British guy when we saw the snake oh yes we did see a rattlesnake was that a rattlesnake cow in it and believe us yep we saw a rattlesnake that sounds awesome Holly glad you guys didn't get bit by any rattlesnakes but moving on I'm asking to share about one of his favorite locations that he went on the trip so Grazentore's was something that was super unique for me and just one of my favorite parts of the whole trip I've actually been there before so I went to Grazentore's a few summers ago and it was later in the summer so it was warmer and the snow wasn't there but when we were there there were actually a pretty decent amount of snow we were hiking through about a foot of snow most of the time on the trail it kind of gets being down as people are hiking in it but it was definitely a significant amount of snow and we weren't prepared for it and we really needed crampons for our feet so that we have better traction and we really should have everyone should have been wearing sunglasses and wearing sunscreen and all this kind of stuff that we didn't really think about because of the snow because we ended up some people getting snow blind and we've heard about that on other podcasts and sunburn all that kind of stuff which is not a lot of fun but on this trip to the mountains where I was able to reflect on God's power to carve those mountains for us to bask in His glory is something that was super cool and super unique about that specific location on our trip. And because, like I said, we weren't really prepared for this in a lot of different ways, weren't prepared for the snow. We didn't end up making all the way to the top, but even though we didn't make it to the top, it was still unbelievable to see the mountains and the sea, just the snow everywhere and just how beautiful everything was. And as we came back down, we had a good time camping and it was really cold though because obviously it's snowing and everything. So we ended up building a fire, even though it's the sign told us not to build a fire. And it was just spending that time with friends and worshiping and just in the mountains is such a unique experience. And for me, I really took a lot away from that specific experience and learned a lot and got the sea gotten a new way. And so definitely recommend Grayson Tories. Those 14ers are unbelievable. And our story for today is actually an experience that Holly had at Grayson Tories. So Holly's going to share a little bit about that story now. Yeah, so as we were hiking Grayson Tories, I was actually leading the pack and that usually leads the packs and hikes, but he was not feeling too well. So I was like ahead of everyone. And as we were hiking, this silence was unbelievable because we were in a valley of two mountains and we were hiking up towards the two peaks that were 14,000 feet. But you could hear a pin drop. You could hear someone breathe. It was insane. But usually noise distracts me from God. So if a lot of people are talking to me at one time or something like that happens, then I'm immediately distracted from what God is hearing around me. And in that moment, as we were hiking, I was terrified because we were up so high and two, two and a half feet of snow. And one slip, you could have plummeted to your death in that situation. And so I was very scared. But in the moment, I was praying out loud. I immediately felt peace in that moment because of the silence. I think God brought that silence to teach me that I'm not alone and there's no reason to be afraid. But I was shaking and I was praying out loud and I was like, please help us get through this because I was definitely afraid of being alone and also falling to my death. But the silence definitely brought me back to God and surrounded me on him. And he reassured me that he was with me and that he wouldn't let us fall and nobody fell. So that's good. All right, that was a great story. That shows how God can just reveal Himself in nature in the most crazy ways. But anyway, guys, thank you for listening to the "Bagop Venture Podcast." If you guys want to check out our Instagram page, we'll actually be posting more photos about the stuff that we just talked about in this podcast. And we'll also have links in the description that give you kind of different ways that you can come and access these environments and see and learn more about them. Thank you guys for listening to this podcast and we will see you guys out on the trail.