Verse: Mark 1:10-11, Matthew 3:16
Fun Fact: Olympic National Park has rainforests, mountains and beaches, making it by far one of the most diverse national parks and earning its spot as both a UN World Heritage Site and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Favorite Hike: Hurricane Hill, Lake Angeles & Second Beach
Olympic National Park, situated in northwest Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, is home to three distinctly different ecosystems: glacier-capped mountains, lush, temperate rainforests, and miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean. These ecosystems support a vast array of different animals and plants, some unique to the park that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Within the park’s 1,441 square miles, you could experience all three environments in a single day (although you need more than a day to take it all in). You could picnic on the beach looking for starfish in the tide pools; you could drive up to Hurricane Ridge, where, at 5,252 feet, you get panoramic views of the 60 named glaciers in the park; or you could hike through one of the four rainforests covered with mosses and ferns.
This rich diversity has earned Olympic National Park the designations as both an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a UN World Heritage site.
Each area of the park is beautiful and exciting, with endless opportunities to explore. You leave amazed at how these three unique environments coexist together in one park. How did the combination of geography, topography and climate merge to create such varied landscapes and rich diversity? How do the ecosystems interact with each other? How have the plants and animals adapted, benefited and become more resilient? I don’t know the answer to all of these questions or pretend to have the knowledge to explain the complexity contained in this park, but I do think the Lord gives us an example of this---within the marvelous mystery of the trinity. As amazed as we are at the forces that have allowed Olympic National Park to become what it is, how much more miraculous is the divine nature of our Triune God.
The Trinity, the principle that there is one God who exists as three distinct persons--the Father, Son and Holy Spirit--is a fundamental theological pillar of the Christian faith. The Bible teaches us that there is one God and only one God, but He equally and eternally exists as three distinct persons acting in unity. (John 1:14, John 10:30, Genesis 1:26-27, 2 Corinthians 13:14). Scripture doesn't teach that there are three “pieces” of one God, or that God merely can be interpreted through these different manifestations. The Bible clearly reveals that God is one in being and essence, yet three persons.
Perhaps this is best displayed at the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1 (see also Matthew 3:16 and Luke 3:21-22)
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
Here we see Spirit descent, the Father speak and Jesus come out of the water. We see this echoed in Matthew 28 as Jesus sends the disciples out to evangelize and baptize.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We also clearly see the roles and relationship of the Trinity on display as we look at God’s redemptive work in our lives. The Father planned that our salvation would take place through the work of the Son. The Son is clear that He came to do the will of the Father (John 6:38, Matthew 26:39), and we see Jesus, the Son, anointed by the Holy Spirit to empower the plans of God and the work of Jesus Christ (Luke 4:18-21).
As you explore all that Olympic National Park has to offer within its three ecosystems, I pray you not only appreciate the way the Lord has graciously created diversity and beauty around us in such a creative, intricate and incomprehensible way as shown within this park, but that you would be reminded of our Triune God and marvel at his nature. Take time to praise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, our God, three in one.
"Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the Triune God." - John Wesley
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