Finding Renewal After the Fire
A reflection from a devotional based on travels to all 50 states
Stepping outside our usual routines can slow us down and help us pay closer attention to the world around us. It can also make us more open to spiritual reflection and quiet moments with God. While this can happen in our own neighborhoods and everyday life, travel often places us in unfamiliar settings, giving us fresh opportunities to notice what we might otherwise miss.
Travel reflections are at the heart of From Sea to Shining Sea: 50 Daily Devotions from Traveling to Every State in America, written by John Christopher Frame with his parents, Gene and Marsha Frame.
Over nearly 60 years of marriage, Gene and Marsha Frame visited all 50 states. These experiences form the foundation of the book, a 50-day devotional with one reading for each state.
In From Sea to Shining Sea, the Frames reflect on places like the Kennedy Space Center, Vermont’s covered bridges, and the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Arizona.
The devotions connect travel memories with Scripture, prayer prompts, and reflection questions that encourage readers to pause and consider how their relationship with God can grow in everyday life.
Some of the devotions grew out of the couple’s time in nature. Mountains, waterfalls, and forests can spark reflection on deeper themes—majesty, hope, and renewal.
The following devotion from the book is about visiting Yellowstone National Park.
____________
Wyoming
Renewal
After we left Wisconsin Dells, which we wrote about in yesterday’s devotion, we continued our journey west, eventually making it to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We stayed four nights at Old Faithful Inn, inside the park. The bathroom was down the hall rather than inside the room.
In front of the inn is the most famous geyser in the park, called Old Faithful. It shoots boiling water up over one hundred feet in the air about every hour or hour and a half. Crowds gather around to watch it, and as it erupts, steam from the hot water blows in the wind.
Something else that’s interesting in the park is the hot, bubbling mud pools that look like thick gray paint. Bubbles pop on their surface, with each bubble different than another. Hydrogen sulfide gas comes up through the mud, and you can smell a strong, disturbing odor—like rotten eggs.
One of our best memories of that trip is the Chuck Wagon Cookout we enjoyed one evening in the park. We rode in a covered wagon to get to the cookout, while John rode a horse for two hours, meeting us there for dinner.
Walking on trails in the park, we saw devastation from the largest forest fire in Yellowstone National Park’s history. It happened in 1988, three years before our visit. Nearly 800,000 acres—36 percent of the park—burned. We saw dead trees that had burned in the fire, and in the worst areas, the ground was still gray or light brown and bare. It gave us an eerie feeling, knowing that the area had been engulfed in flames. Further destruction had resulted from the mountain pine beetle, which had killed many whitebark pine trees. Also, it hadn’t rained in a long time the year we visited.
Yet, despite all that, we saw new plants growing. The forest was rejuvenating. Minerals from the ash, sunlight, and rain allowed plant life to grow. Amid all the destruction around us, life was returning. There was renewal in the forest.
And just like in the forest, renewal can come to us even when we’ve been harmed or feel burned out from stress and difficulties. Christ’s love can renew our hearts and lives after we’ve experienced pain. We can be resurrected from spiritual death. Joy can replace fatigue. Peace can follow stress.
Through renewal in Christ, our lives can be changed, and with that, those around us too.
Reflect
· Where in my life do I need renewal?
Read
· Ephesians 4:23-24: But you were taught to be made new in your hearts. You were taught to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God—made to be truly good and holy.
Pray
· For love to renew my life.
· To be the renewed person God wants me to be so I can positively impact those around me.
____________
As reflected in the devotion above, a forest changed by fire can serve as a powerful reminder that renewal is possible for people as well. Just as forests recover after fire, people can experience renewal through grace, forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation, and time with God.
Devotions like the one above appear throughout From Sea to Shining Sea, as the book gathers reflections from journeys across the country, helping readers pause and see familiar spiritual truths in new ways.
Readers interested in learning more about the book can explore additional information here:
https://johnchristopherframe.com/from-sea-to-shining-sea
_____________
—John Christopher Frame
Co-author of From Sea to Shining Sea