Tom and I drove down to Akers Ferry on the Current River a week ago this
last Thursday for a day float. The congenial proprietor of the Cracker Barrel general store (and ferry master) at Akers Ferry outfitted us, and
drove us to the put-in spot several miles upriver, Tom loaded his
fishing gear into the canoe, and off we went. The day had threatened
rain, and we were prepared for temperatures down in the 40's or low
50's, but instead the sun had come out and the temperature was moving up
as we entered the water.
As we meandered down the river, and began to realize how glorious
the day was becoming, I started to really focus on the foliage and the
uniquely beautiful Missouri limestone bluffs. And then I couldn't help
thinking about the immeasurable time that passed for the formation of
those amazing bluffs--first the eons of sedimentation from the great
inland sea to form the layers of limestone, and then the passage of time
for the erosion of those layers by the carving power of what is now the
Current River.
And it occurred to me how spiritually inspiring even my feeble
understanding of these evolutionary forces is, compared to the poverty
of vision available to those who believe God formed these places in a
moment of Disneyland-type creation. I don't even have the gift of faith
anymore in a personal god, but I do believe, as Hanlon puts it,
"somethin' happened". And the fact that it didn't happen in a single
moment of directorial mandate, but over an unimaginable period of
evolutionary history, makes the somethin' that much more special.
I'm just sayin'.....
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