Captivated by Eternity

Author's Note: I tried to update while I was on vacation but didn't have the passwords necessary with me. Sorry I made you all wait what might have felt like a small eternity for this final post of our summer 2025 season!

Around 20 years ago, my younger sister spent a summer working at an all inclusive resort on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. She fell in love with the Pacific NorthWest and vowed that her first priority upon graduating from college would be to figure out how to move away from Minnesota and to western Washington. It took her about 3 months after graduation to secure her first job out in Tacoma and she has lived out there ever since. As a result, my mom and I have done multiple road trips out to see her and her growing family over the years.

This year was one of the years we decided to embrace the road trip adventure once again and meet her and her family for a long weekend on the Oregon coast. It's been a few years since I've done the drive and even longer since I've seen the ocean so I proposed the idea to my mom and she was game.

The Oregon Coastline looking south as you approach the City of Florence.

If you haven't driven across the western half of the United States, I recommend you do it at least once. It is a good reminder of just how big our nation is and how varied it's landscapes truly are. While we got some great pictures, my mom especially would get frustrated again and again that she couldn't capture it all and that she especially couldn't fully capture the scale.

Driving through mountain valleys where you basically had to look straight up to see the top of the canyon walls. Journeying through desserts which felt like they would never end while we marveled at those who did the same journey on foot with covered wagons carrying their belongings. Standing on the top of a lava flow that covers over 60 square miles of land leaving only black rock as far as the eye can see. And looking out over the ocean to only see water and sky blend together on the horizon thinking about those intrepid sailors who built boats and set off into that great unknown just to see if there was anything out there.

A rest stop view on I-70 in Utah.

For me, these are moments which give me just the smallest glimpse of eternity because they are undeniably beyond my ability to take in all at one time. Just like eternity is something that cannot be contained into one moment our existence. The oceans, the mountains, and even the redefining work of volcanos and lava...they have been a part of this world and reality long before I was born and will remain so until the day this world comes to an end. They are, in a sense, timeless.

View from the lookout on the top of the lava flow. After 2500 years, some small trees are finally starting to grow in the 65 square miles of black rock.

So often when we think about eternity, we think about the time when time is no more. The time after our experience of time ends. But eternity is so much more. Eternity is beyond where time has the ability to define our experiences. It is before time began and after time ends. It is something we, as time bound beings, have a lot of trouble wrapping our heads around and understanding.

And so, whenever I can, I go and stand on the shore of the ocean and stare out to places beyond what my eyes can see. Or I look at the sheer rock face looming above me and wonder what the chances are any human foot has ever touched the top. Or I try to imagine the amount of trust and faith it took to wake up day after day to walk across land which seems devoid of the ability to support any sort of life. In doing so, I'm reminded that I eternity is so much more than I can imagine and yet God has always, and will always, dwell in that space.