Note: Next week we will mosey around the New England states where we will see the fall foliage and hopefully ride several rail trails. We will not be posting messages at that time.

Message summary: Tuesday afternoon my friend Nick and I visited the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. It's ludicrous to think that I could jump across that canyon let alone the Grand Canyon in Arizona, no matter how good a long jumper I might be. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Thank God for Calvary!!

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"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Early this week my friend Nick and I went up for a whirlwind trip through the Pennsylvania Wilds region in north-central PA. On Monday we visited Elk Country and on Tuesday morning the Kinzua Bridge and Skywalk. Then we headed across Route 6 east to visit the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. It may not be THE Grand Canyon in Arizona but it is still quite impressive.

We viewed it from a state park on the east side where there are beautiful lookout points from where we took several of the photos we share today. At these lookout points all around the park there are sturdy guard rails.

But we discovered during our visit a few years ago to the Arizona Grand Canyon that guard rails are not erected around every danger point. Yes, there are some guard rails but you can also go right up to the very edge in many steep locations where the next step will drop you along ways. The canyon depth is over 6000 feet (over a mile) from the rim. But here's an interesting fact. It's not the deepest canyon in the world. The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet plummets to a depth of 17,567 feet, making it more than 2 miles deeper than the Grand Canyon's 6,093 feet. The Tibetan canyon is also about 30 miles longer than the Grand Canyon.

Sixteen people died at the Grand Canyon in 2024. Those fatalities include the falling deaths of a 20-year-old man on July 31, a 20-year-old woman on August 6, and a 43-year-old BASE jumper on August 1. That man died trying to do an illegal jump into the canyon.

So we will set our illustration today at the edge of the Grand Canyon where an attempt will be made to jump across. I am joined by some who are world class long jumpers, others in wheelchairs unable to walk let alone jump.

As the long jumpers loosen up for the big jump they look at me as well as the people who are in a wheelchair. Comparatively they may feel pretty good about their chances since world class long jumpers can jump much farther than I ever could, even in my prime.

However whether being wheel-chair bound or a world class long jumper it would make absolutely no difference in successfully jumping across the Grand Canyon! Above is a photo I took when we were out there years ago and you can barely see people standing at the edge of the South Rim. Whether one is actually able jump 3 feet or 30 feet or even 300 feet, it would make no difference at all if the requirement was to reach the other side. Every person's fate is doomed who would attempt such a colossal feat.

This cross photo is a visual reminder of the supreme price paid at Calvary by our Lord Jesus Christ. His death on the cross secured our redemption since "Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people" (Hebrews 9:28a).

"At Calvary" is an old hymn that many of us old-timers recognize and cherish. It was written in 1895 by William Newell who put the testimony of his life into poetry format. Today let us consider a line from the third verse.

What did Newell mean when he wrote, "Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span"? Gulf in this sense is any wide separation, as in position, status, or education. In this case it is the wide separation between sinful mortal humanity and a holy immortal God. This is the mighty gulf that God did span through His Son, Jesus.

Since mankind has lived on this earth where sin has inhabited the human race since the fall, we can't really capture how mighty this gulf is or how utterly hopeless our condition is in seeking to span it.

The Grand Canyon illustration is somewhat analogous to one's seeking to reach God's standards for holiness by using man's righteousness. Some people may feel they are better than others. But the standard by which we are judged is God's holiness. Thus Paul's well-known statement is so fitting, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Now some may comparatively fall less short than others (from our perspective) but, given the mighty gulf that separates us from God, we all fall woefully short!

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Thank God for Calvary!!!

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber