Summer of my Dreams
The night of my arrival in Yellowstone National Park I was reading
an article by a pastor I respect very much. He was talking about this burning
feeling he would often experience when he walked into a bookstore which he
eventually realized was God’s voice calling him to write books. I can see how
that may sound strange but as I read that article on my first night in the park
I knew exactly what he was talking about.
Two years ago, on a visit to Yosemite, the desire to work in a national park was planted in my heart. Countless times since that trip I have felt the same burning in my heart that the pastor was talking about. After my dream was initially born, I would lay in my bed at night dreaming of what my future may hold- I would dream of the parks and my heart would quicken and become full of hope and anticipation at the possibility of one day living in one. After sharing these dreams with my family and friends, googling pictures of national park scenery, reading ACMNP blogs, applying to ACMNP, doodling park scenery in my schoolbooks, getting accepted on the Yellowstone Lake team, googling more pictures of park scenery, attending the conference, planning the fantastic road trip out, and actually traveling across the country to YNP- the passion only burned deeper. My first night as I read the pastor’s testimony I realized that I too had been clearly and specifically called for two years to this place. How good it feels to arrive at the reality of something that has merely been a God-given dream for so long… I was finally there.