We have been on this 2 week journey through Arizona and now Colorado.  We stopped in Grand Junction to visit friends and family and found something very interesting.  First of all a side-note.  Does anyone know how Grand Junction, CO got its name?  For those who don’t of which I was in the camp, the Colorado River and the Gunnison River start in different places in Colorado, but are joined in Grand Junction, making it the grand junction of two rivers.  Just thought you would like to know or maybe only one or two of you would.

Back to my story.  Outside Grand Junction there is a national park called Colorado National Monument.  The picture seems pretty non discript to me from a distance.

It seemed like another mountain until we entered the monument.  Then things changed.  We first came across a herd of desert mountain sheep  There were about 10 or so and we got fairly close to them as they were grazing in the rocks.

The more we climbed up the monument, the more beauty began to open up to us.

It was anything but boring.  Around every turn we encountered more beauty in the rock formations than I had ever seen.  From coke ovens to independence rock to smoke stacks.  Colors that even my color-blind eyes could appreciate.

Before we began to drive into Colorado National Monument, it seemed like any other mountain drive, but once we made a commitment to take the drive, it was anything but mundane.  It reminds me of perspectives we often have with people we come in contact with.  On the surface the person may be like any other person and we categorize them as such.  But if we take the time to investigate their lives and look closer at them as a person and the experiences they have had in their lives, the boring turns to beauty.  The mundane turns to exciting.  The ordinary turns to the unique.

On this journey, God is ready to give us new and different experiences if only we are open to listen to Him and take the steps necessary to turn our ordinary into extraordinary.