Latest From the Blog
Now Hiring
August 7, 2025
AUMC is now hiring a part-time custodian for 6 hours on Saturdays. Actual working hours are negotiable but day of the week is not. Start date
AUMC is now hiring a part-time custodian for 6 hours on Saturdays. Actual working hours are negotiable but day of the week is not. Start date
Today, in Sequoia National Park, we begin the day with a waterfall hike, Tokopah Falls, the largest falls in this park. What’s better: hiking to a waterfall or mountain peak? It can be a tough call, but not this time. I would easily prefer to go back to Little Baldy. By the way, Josh is calling me Little Baldy now.
Another day and we are still going strong. Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks border each other so today, we drive to Sequoia for our first significant hike of the trip. Little Baldy mountain is a 3.4 miles round trip, but straight up. Josh shared that this mountain was named after me.
The new day is a gift. Yesterday, we drove from Disneyland and struggled. Today is a new creation. The gift of a fresh start in God’s beautiful creation. California as a whole is not stunningly beautiful. It is dry and the landscape reflects it. However, everyday is sunny.
Because we love, we confess, say I am sorry, and forgive. These are necessary activities in love. Sometimes, we need a moment. Sometimes, we need to process. Sometimes, we need some time to ourselves, but we still love and share life together. Reconciliation does not happen in an instant. We have feelings to work through, things to let go. But in love, we go through this process over and over again.
Day 2 at Disneyland has begun, another early morning. We still make good time, but today, this morning we are dragging a bit, and don’t arrive to the park until about 7:35 am. Again, there will be a race. This time to ride Cars, Radiator Springs Racers. Somehow, we do even better than yesterday and are literally one of the first to ride.
We continue riding mostly big rides. Today, we add Guardians of the Galaxy.
Our first day at Disneyland, the 10th national park of California. What a change. After 3 national parks of hiking, hot weather, and God’s creation, Disneyland is drastically different, but we are ready. Here we get to celebrate the imagination. God granted humans the gift of creative imagination. In fact, through the parables of Jesus, we can use creative imagination to better see God’s kingdom in our midst.