I lived in Chicago for four years. Granted, it was a long time ago. I was different in those days. Chicago was different, too. I know that there is a kind of urban beauty. I can remember going up to the top of what was then called the Sears Tower or the John Hancock building and looking out at the city lights. From that height, the lights twinkle and there is the darkness of Lake Michigan on one side and lights that stretch to the horizon on the other. You can watch the flowing headlights of the cars on the freeways and see the interchanges as they carry their human cargo from one part of the city to another. There is a rich cultural beauty in a city as well. I remember coming out of Orchestra Hall after listening to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti and thinking what a treasure it was to hear such great music - and all with a student discount. Thursdays we could wander among the impressionist paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago on the strength of our student ID cards. There were things that i didn’t like about the city. I was a country boy and the traffic was daunting to me at first. I never did adjust completely to all of the locks and bars and other security measures that were required. Were I to live there today, I know that the daily headlines of shootings and senseless violence would be even more horrible than they are to me as I view from a distance. But I remember moments of genuine beauty. Chicago is on the sunrise side of Lake Michigan and I am a sunrise kind of guy. The University of Chicago is a truly great institution with a truly great library and the Chicago Consortium of Theological Schools was one of the great centers of theological education in the world at the time that we were there.

I was a bit apprehensive about moving to North Dakota. Having grown up in Montana, I have some biases about mountains and the beauty of Big Sky Country. But I discovered a beauty on the plains that surprised me and took my breath away. I know places where you can lean into the wind and if you walk a few feet from the road and climb over a fence, you can see grasslands stretching as far as you can see. The rhythm of the wind moving the grass is as captivating as waves on an ocean. I’ve watched summer thunderstorms roll across the prairie with complete confidence that I could tell the track of the storm and keep myself safe. And there is a beauty to the people of the prairies that captured my heart.

We were blessed to live in Idaho for a decade. The ski runs at Bogus Basin, just minutes from our home are three and four times the length of the longest runs in the Black Hills. And there is night skiing up there. I could leave the office a bit early and get in three or four hours of skiing before bedtime. Idaho is a place of incredible creeks and rivers. It was there that i learned the joy of running whitewater in a raft and I picked up a bit of ability to sail on mountain lakes. There was incredible scenery in every direction. Less than an hour to the mountains. Less than an hour to the desert. Sand dunes and lakes and mountain vistas all within minutes of our home.

But I can remember stopping in the Black Hills on our way home from Chicago. In those days of 55 mph speed limits the hills were a day’s drive from home. and two days’ drive from Chicago. We’d make the trip in three days with two overnights and with relatives in the hills, it was a convenient stop. I would stand out on their deck and smell the pine trees and look up into the canopy of stars overhead and be moved by the deep beauty of the place. Later, when we lived in North Dakota, I could feel the moderation in the weather as we drove into the hills - almost always cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than the place where we lived. Early one evening, I stood outside in the hills and thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a place like this - with pine trees in the yard and the beauty of the hills surrounding you?” Still later, when we lived in Idaho, we came to the hills and discovered once again that refreshing coolness. The place we lived in Idaho suffered from a lack of wind. I didn’t even know that you could miss the wind before I lived there. You can. Take yesterday or any of the past few warm summer days around here and remove the breeze. It would approach unbearable.

And now I live here and have lived in the same house for 20 years - longer than I’ve lived anywhere in my life. And I can go out onto my deck whenever I want and breathe the pine-scented air. Last night I was on a call with the Sheriff’s Office in the middle of the hills and while we waited for a few moments to visit with some people who were living in the midst of one of the most difficult of life’s situations, we stood in the yard in our shirt sleeves, completely comfortable, gazing up at the sky with its countless stars. Even in the most painful moments of life, we are treated to scenes of incredible beauty. People who live amidst city lights never get to see the glory that surrounded us.

I dip my paddle in the lake and watch my canoe glide across the water. I have don nothing to earn the right to such incredible beauty. It is a gift.

May I never fail to recognize and be grateful for the gift.

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