How I've Experienced Creation at HoneyRock

A Vanguard Gap Year Story

By HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development

March 15^th, 2022

One of the core values of HoneyRock that I have vividly come to understand in Vanguard thus far is Experiences in Creation. I grew up loving the outdoors. My family hiked constantly, and every spare minute I wasn’t doing homework or in school was spent playing in my backyard or exploring the woods behind our neighborhood. I have always had a deep love for nature and outdoor activity.

It wasn’t until I came to HoneyRock that I fully understood God’s Creation and the way we as humans are meant to relate to it. God created us and everything around us, and not only should we give him credit for it all, but we must also understand how much we can learn from God’s Creation.

How I've Experienced Creation at HoneyRock

One time in which I was able to learn about God through his Creation was on the rock climbing trip at Devil’s Lake in autumn. There were some bluffs that I hiked up to almost every night. One morning, a group of Vanguards woke up early and hiked the bluffs to watch the sunrise. It was easily one of the most majestic things I have ever seen. Beams of light lit up low-hanging clouds and the great expanse of multicolored trees stretched as far as the eye could see. We sat on the edge of the rocky cliff and watched heavy fog move slowly over the lake while eagles swooped close overhead.

If God could create such a picture-perfect scene, couldn’t He do anything in my life?

In this moment, I felt as if God was telling me multiple things. Two songs kept repeating themselves in my mind: “10,000 Reasons” and “So Will I.” I couldn’t stop thinking about the lines “The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning, it’s time to sing your song again, whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.” Nor could I stop thinking about “So Will I,” and how it repeatedly talks about inanimate objects, such as rocks and stars, praising him, so how much more should we humans praise him? I also felt like God was showing me His power. If He could create such a picture-perfect scene, couldn’t He do anything in my life? Through a simple sunrise, I was reminded to praise God through the good times and the bad, and also taught the true scope of God’s power. HoneyRock has taught me to appreciate nature as what it really is–God’s handiwork–as well as how to learn from it.