California Road Trip--Life Lessons Along the Way pt. 5 Owens Valley: It's All Up to the Flow

We are a “thirsty” people. We have a need for water—we can’t live without it. This leg of our trip is all about water. On our California Road Trip we are now in the middle of the State, on the eastern side. As we travel on Highway 395, and look east we will see a very dry area that spans for a couple hundred miles, it’s an area that looks like nothing but dust, but it used to be lush. It’s the Owens Valley.

Our first stop is Mono Lake. The Mono Lake basin covers an area of 69 miles. Eastern Sierra streams feed the lake with fresh water that contains salts and minerals carried down from the mountains. With no outlet, water can only leave the basin through evaporation, leaving the salts and minerals behind. Mono Lake is 2 1/2 times as salty, and 8 times as alkaline as ocean water.

The lake is known for its tufa towers—they are created through a chemical reaction (calcium in springs mix with carbonates in alkaline water), and can only happen under water. As the lake level drops and exposes the tufa towers, they cease to grow. So, those towers you see, they’re 300 – 13,000 years old! They are standing testimonies that show how the level of water has changed over the years.

The story of California cannot be told without the story about water. People need huge amounts of water, but so do animals, and so do crops. Most of California’s water comes from the northern Sierra Nevada, and some from the east (Colorado River). In 1901, engineer George Chaffey built a 70-mile canal from the Colorado River to bring water to the Colorado Dessert in southeastern California. The area would be renamed, “Imperial Valley.” Farming could now take place year-round.

Between 1850 and 1920, the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco outgrew their water supply. Solving their need for water was an urgent challenge for both cities. To solve the issue for Los Angeles, an aqueduct was constructed to bring water to the city.

The LA Aqueduct would run from Owens River to LA, a distance of 200 miles. Construction began in 1908 and was completed in 1913. The water irrigated farms and supplied water to LA.

So what happened to Owens Lake? Without a river flowing into it, Owens Lake dried up, and the Owens Valley farmlands suffered. The area turned to dust (what we now see as we look east on our drive on Highway 395).

San Francisco also needed water. Their solution was to build a dam across the Tuolumne River to create a reservoir. The reservoir at Hetch Hetchy would supply the water, but it would also mean flooding the Hetch Hetchy Valley inside Yosemite National Park. The plan was approved in 1913 by the U.S. Congress. It took nine years to build the dam. The 150 mile aqueduct was completed in 1934, and San Francisco got its needed water.

So, what’s the lesson for us? Diverted water has consequences. Living things need water. California has visual evidence that shows what an area looks like that has water flowing through, and areas that do not. There’s the before water was diverted, and the after water was diverted.

There is a great spiritual lesson in this to reflect on, and many visual aids as examples to learn from. We can put ourselves in locations on this leg of the trip and reflect on where we are at in our lives today. Let’s start with Mono Lake. Mono Lake is very similar to the Dead Sea. Nothing lives in it except for algae and brine shrimp. Why? There is no flow out. There is only water that comes in. It is really only through giving, sharing, and serving, that we remain fresh and alive. Does our life have an outlet of sharing?

Stand in Owens Valley. What about us? Was there a time when “water” was more abundant, but over time was been diverted, leaving us dry? Today, where are we in relation to the source of water (the Living Water Jesus offers)?

Considering these things, are there some outside forces that are trying to divert the water from our lives? What is the distance between us and the water? Here’s the thing, Owens Valley—the lake, river and surrounding area, will never be the same. The Tuolumne River will never the same that it was. But here’s the difference, we can move, we can direct water back, we can move back to be near the source of water.

It’s amazing when we learn about what efforts were made to get clean water to cities of people, and to farmlands. Then we reflect upon our “thirsts.” The Psalmist writes, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers,” Psalm 1:2-3. Jesus says, “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him,” John 7:37-38. Jesus told the woman he met at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water… But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:10, 14.

It’s all about the flow. The source is near, very near—so let’s drink, and drink deeply and drink often. Drink the promises He gives us today of his love and forgiveness, and His presence with us. An aqueduct, a canal, a reservoir, has been created to keep us supplied with all the spiritual water we could ever need. The valve has been opened, may we allow His life giving water flow into our hearts.

It’s great traveling with you. Blessings.

Our next stop will be at Manzanar—where the Japanese were interred during WWII, and we consider “when it happens to us.”

California Road Trip--Life Lessons Along the Way pt. 4 Bodie: How Not to Have a Ghost Town Existence

In this summer blog series entitled California Road Trip we are learning some biblical lessons for life from places and events in California. We started in Coloma, where gold was discovered, and found that true wealth is found in Christ, and salvation is the true treasure. We next stopped in Truckee, at Donner Lake and Pass where we learned about the importance of decisions that we make, and how they can truly affect the outcome of our lives. Our last stop was Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful lakes in all California, and observed the clean that really matters. Our tendency is to focus all of our attention on the outward surface things and neglect the inner.

Our trip this week takes us to the eastern side of California. We’re going to Bodie—the famous ghost town. To reach it today, you have to drive about thirteen miles down a gravel road east of Highway 395. As you walk the streets of this ghost town and look into the windows of the remaining homes, businesses, and sites, you will be transported back in time.

The historic gold-mining town of Bodie is the place of one of the richest gold strikes in California. Gold was originally discovered in Coloma in January, 1848. About 10 years later, as mining declined on the western slopes of the Sierra, gold discoveries in the high Eastern Sierra got the attention of thousands of gold seekers. In 1859, W. S. Bodie and E. S. Taylor stumbled upon one of the richest gold strikes. The ore extracted from the hills amounted to millions in gold and silver. Unfortunately, Bodie was not able to enjoy his discovery. He froze to death in a blizzard while returning with supplies in November, 1859.

Mining was slow in the 1860s and most of the 1870s. Another rich strike of gold and silver ore was made in the late 1870s. Stories of the quality and amount of gold being mined by the Standard Mining Company sparked a rush of people, and Bodie became a boom-town in 1877. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 8,500 people and more than 2,000 buildings.

General stores and saloons supplied the needs of the miners. More than 60 saloons and dance halls lined the streets. It was once known as the most lawless, wildest and toughest mining camp in the West. Gunfights, stage holdups, robberies and street fights contributed to its reputation of lawlessness. Bodie’s heyday was short-lived. The year 1881 saw the town in the grips of decline. The rich mines were depleted, and the mining companies went bankrupt as the miners and business people left for more prosperous areas. Bodie’s population continued to decrease. Two major fires also swept through the town. By the 1940s, Bodie was given the status of ghost town.

Here today, gone tomorrow. As the author of Ecclesiastes says, “Generations come, and generations go, but the earth remains forever,” Ecclesiastes 1:4. Things in life come and go, and some quicker than others. The older we get, the more we see and experience how fast time goes by.

I have a picture of my sons Jonathan and Daniel in my office that I see every day. It was taken the summer we first visited Bodie fifteen years ago (they were 12 and 7). My silent response is the same each time I glance at the picture, “Where did the time go?” There are many verses in Scripture that talk about the “shortness” of life. The Psalmist writes, “Remember how fleeting is my life,” Psalm 89:47. Also, Psalm 39:5, “You have made my days a mere handbreadth...” In the vast continuum of time, my life is compared to the width of a hand. James compares our life to a “mist,” and the Psalmist to “grass that withers.”

Life is short, and we can spend most of it pursuing the wrong things that have no lasting value, all because we wanted what our neighbor has. All those people that rushed to Bodie—do you think they went with the thought, it’s only going to last 3-4 years? That’s a very sobering question.

There’s a great passage in Psalms that can re-calibrate our trajectory, and re-align our course: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” Psalm 90:12. It’s never too late. That’s what Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount. Pleasure comes and goes quickly. It’s not about what we store up here on earth. Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

That’s why Jesus offers himself as the Bread of Life and Living Water. He says, “If you eat of me, and drink of me, you will never hunger and thirst again.” It really comes down to, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

You walk around a place like Bodie, and you get to experience the truth that things come and go. Civilizations come and go. People come and go. What once was thriving, is now gone. Ruins around the world testify to this. Visit Rome, Greece, South America and the Holy Land, and you’ll see the evidence.

After visiting Bodie, the thought that went through my mind was an observation; a lesson: “how not to have a ghost town existence.” I need to “number my days,” and be aware of what life is really all about. I once read, “The way you see your life shapes your life.” How do you see your life? As a party, a race, a marathon, a battle or game, as a journey…? Your unspoken life metaphor influences your life more than you realize. It determines your expectations, your values, your relationships, your goals, and your priorities.

In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life. We’re not completely happy here because we’re not supposed to be. Earth is not our final home. We were created for something more and better.

In God’s eyes, the greatest heroes of faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those who treat this life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity. Pass on what you know to others. The night before Jesus’ death, he told his Father, in prayer, what he had been doing for the last three years. He helped his disciples to know and love God, taught them to love each other, gave them the word so they could grow in maturity, showed them how to serve, and then sent them out to tell others.

How do we not have a ghost town existence? Don’t hide from the next generation the message of what God has done for us in and through his Son Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter writes, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever,” 1 Peter 1:24. What lasts forever? The Word of the Lord—Christ. How do we not to have a ghost town existence? Have Christ as our source of life—as our Lord and Savior, as the one we pass on. Live beyond self.

Our prayer: “God, give me a fever for you, help me to trust you with all my heart and walk your path laid out for me, I need your cleansing for my sin, and Lord, as I reflect on the brevity of life, help me to pass on what you have done for me.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

It’s great traveling with you. Blessings.

Join me next week, as together we continue south to Owens Valley—were lush turned to dust, and we see that "it’s all up to the flow."