July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour - Post #6 (July 11 - Camp Morning, Lunch)

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I’m in the middle of blogging through the amazing week from my hand-written personal journal.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2018    6:46 A.M. (Camp)

Good morning!  Well, my first night of truly roughing it went about as expected.  Directly after supper I started getting ready for bed.  We were (rightly) warned that it gets dark quickly in the Canyon, and we should be well set up before dusk.  Good advice.  My main problem was not knowing how I wanted to set up!

July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour - Post #5 (July 10, Camp Stop)

Small "Riffle" on the River

Wild Canyon Overhang

Mid-River Rock

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I am grateful to Canyon Ministries for the invitation, and to the trip leaders (including Arizona River Runners!) for the absolutely outstanding experience.  I'd like to take the next little while to blog through the adventure.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them.  All of the posts are transcribed from my hand-written journal that I kept while on the trip.  I tried to take time during lunch breaks, evening camps, and various other times to record thoughts and impressions - I'm presenting them here in unaltered and unvarnished fashion.

Beautiful Canyon Formation

Daniel - from South Africa

Tuesday, July 10, 2018         5:30 PM – Supper and Camp @ Lower South Canyon (mile 32)

July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour - Post #4 (July 10, Lunch stop)

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I am grateful to Canyon Ministries for the invitation, and to the trip leaders (including Arizona River Runners!) for the absolutely outstanding experience.  I'd like to take the next little while to blog through the adventure.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them.  All of the posts are transcribed from my hand-written journal that I kept while on the trip.  I tried to take time during lunch breaks, evening camps, and various other times to record thoughts and impressions - I'm presenting them here in unaltered and unvarnished fashion.

Dr. John Whitmore -
Coconino Sandstone Expert

Marble Canyon Lodge - last night's motel

The Lodge & Trading Post

Tuesday, July 10, 2018         12:15 PM – Lunch Stop

Our guys on the boat!

Rough sleep last night, even though it was in a real bed!  We’ll see how I do under the stars.  Accidentally set my alarm an hour early.  Got back to sleep.

Breakfast orientation at 7.  River crew orientation at 8; then we headed down to the river.  Lee’s Ferry is the boat launch, also mile 0 on the US Geological Survey measurements.  Loaded the boats and got strapped in.  Cool Zodiak-style boats – very large.  14 people plus crew (1 or 2) on each boat.

River Overview - clear water!

July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour - Post #3 (July 9, Marble Canyon)

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I am grateful to Canyon Ministries for the invitation, and to the trip leaders (including Arizona River Runners!) for the absolutely outstanding experience.  I'd like to take the next little while to blog through the adventure.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them.  All of the posts are transcribed from my hand-written journal that I kept while on the trip.  I tried to take time during lunch breaks, evening camps, and various other times to record thoughts and impressions - I'm presenting them here in unaltered and unvarnished fashion.

Monday, July 9, 2018, 9:44PM – Marble Canyon Lodge

South Rim

South Rim View

Long day!  Up at 6AM.  Showered, dressed, packed, checked out.  Breakfast at 7.  Then another teaching session until about 9.  Then we loaded on bus for the 4-hour drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

View from the South Rim

South Rim View

South Rim

July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour - Post #2 (July 8, Radisson Hotel)

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I am grateful to Canyon Ministries for the invitation, and to the trip leaders (including Arizona River Runners!) for the absolutely outstanding experience.  I'd like to take the next little while to blog through the adventure.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them.  All of the posts are transcribed from my hand-written journal that I kept while on the trip.  I tried to take time during lunch breaks, evening camps, and various other times to record thoughts and impressions - I'm presenting them here in unaltered and unvarnished fashion.

Canyon view from River (Day 7)

July 8, 2018, 8:30PM MST (Arizona Standard Time) – Radisson Hotel, Phoenix Airport

July 8-16 Grand Canyon Tour: Post #1 (July 8)

In July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I am grateful to Canyon Ministries for the invitation, and to the trip leaders (including Arizona River Runners!) for the absolutely outstanding experience.  I'd like to take the next little while to blog through the adventure.  Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy them.  All of the posts are transcribed from my hand-written journal that I kept while on the trip.  I tried to take time during lunch breaks, evening camps, and various other times to record thoughts and impressions - I'm presenting them here in unaltered and unvarnished fashion.  My first post will be quite short, just to get into the trip; some later posts will be quite lengthy.

July 8, 2018, 2:50PM MST

(my new Grand Canyon hat!  Clean now ...)

Worldview Reviews

Happy New Year!  It's been a crazy and difficult past month ... no blogging has been realistically possible. 

To start off the new year, I would like to share a couple of reviews of An Introduction to Christian Worldview - the worldview text that David Naugle, Michael Clark, and I co-authored and recently published with IVP Academic.

The first is an extensive, constructively critical review by Dr. Randal Rauser, Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Rauser's extended review essay is outstanding, and highlights some very real shortcomings of our worldview book (including at least one embarrassing face-palm moment on my part ... failing to include nationalism in our concluding treatment of worldlyviews).  I hope one day soon to have sufficient time to respond in more depth to some of Rauser's specific critiques - but for now will encourage you to read his extended review, and share his concluding assessment of the work:

... the developed extent of my criticisms should be taken as evidence that this is an engrossing book which is absolutely packed with information and provocative analysis that is worthy of serious engagement. I may disagree with the authors at points, but that’s in large part because they write with clarity, concision, and savvy cultural awareness. Oh yeah, and they cover a dizzying range of topics in an intriguing and thought-provoking manner. All told, the result is an excellent and comprehensive introduction to worldview thinking.

So what’s the final verdict? To sum up, ICW is a great value for money and is an ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduates or seminary students. That is why I am enthusiastically adopting ICW as the main textbook in my seminary worldview course. It’s also why I commend it to every interested reader.

The second review of An Introduction to Christian Worldview is by Dr. Michael Philliber, Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Edmonton, Oklahoma.  Philliber's short review notes the contributions the text makes, and highlights its appropriateness in some settings (but not others!).

I am thankful to Dr. Rauser and Dr. Philliber for taking the time to engage with our text!  If you'd like to check the book out for yourself, check it out on Amazon or Amazon.ca.