Adobe Badlands

An Arkie's Faith column from the October 3, 2018, issue of The Mena Star.

The fresh, clean, early morning air filled my lungs as I quietly slipped out the front door. No one else was awake at the guest house on the Kirkham Horse Ranch in Austin, Colorado. The sun was still well below the horizon as I headed out for a morning walk. The ranch is nestled in a narrow valley that runs north and south, with adobe hills abruptly rising to the east and the west.

On our vacation in Colorado this year we wanted to visit the Grand Mesa and the Cedaredge area. My wife’s family were some of the first settler’s in this area of Colorado. From the first time that I visited the area, I have thought that the Grand Mesa is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The Grand Mesa is the largest flattop mountain in the world, covering over five hundred square miles with an elevation of more than 10,000 feet above sea level.  There are more than three hundred lakes spread across the Grand Mesa.

When looking for a place to stay, I came across the Kirkham Horse Ranch. Owners Ross and Nancy Kirkham rent out their beautiful guest house. From the living room, you can sit on the sofa and look out of the large picture window and view the Grand Mesa. Even though the view of the Grand Mesa is lovely, and the valley is pretty, I have never thought that the adobe hills were attractive. I have always found them to be plain, boring and a bit ugly.

The plain brown hills in this part of Colorado are referred to as the Adobe Badlands. They are characterized by abruptly sloping hills with deeply-carved canyons, washes, and ravines. Most of the adobes have nothing growing on them. The ‘dobes, as the locals refer to them are a stark brown and grey landscape.

As I started my walk in the dim light of early morning, my opinion of the ‘dobes hadn’t changed. They were not inviting. They seemed cold and colorless and unattractive. As I walked through the pasture and waited for the sun to rise over the ‘dobes to the east, something magical began to happen. To the west, the ‘dobes were being transformed. As the light crept down the ‘dobes they changed from dull brown and grey to vibrant gold and orange as the early morning sunlight slowly bathed the western landscape. I watched as the light started at the very top of the ‘dobes and slowly glided down them until they were entirely painted with the warm and vibrant tones of daybreak. As I looked at the ‘dobes I thought, “wow, they are beautiful!”

What had made the difference in my attitude toward the ‘dobes? I was seeing them in a different light. I remembered the lyrics to a song by the folk singer Melanie. “Why sleep when the day has been called out by the sun. From the night 'cause the light's gonna shine on everyone.” When the light shines, it changes the way things we see things. When we see people through the light of Jesus, it changes the way we see them.

How do you see the people around you? We often see people that we find unattractive, and I’m not talking about their physical attractiveness. There are people groups that we find unattractive. Race, religion, political ideas, culture, and identity separate us, and we often find those who look or think differently from us unattractive.

We as Christians have often passed judgment on many of those around us. We say, "they don't deserve the love of God; they don't deserve my time because they are no good.” If we think that someone is making mistakes in their life, then we often view that person as of little value. We frequently judge others by their race, religion, gender, economic or social strata, but is this the correct way of seeing value in someone?

God doesn't see people groups; He sees faces, behind which are personal histories and heartaches, individual predicaments and potentials. He sees actual people with names. Each one lives in a certain place, wakes up each day, faces their issues and deals with the obstacles that confront them. God feels everything each one of them feels. He sees every detail of every experience that has gone into making each of them exactly who they are at this very moment. He loves each one of these people so much that he gave his only Son as a sacrifice for them.

Internationally renowned author and speaker Wayne Dyer wrote, “see the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see.” All people matter to God. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they’ve done or even what they believe. Christ died for them, Jesus loves them, God has a plan for their lives, and he wants to have a relationship with them.

The Bible says in Mark 6:34 (NIV), “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them.” That’s the way we need to see people. You can’t hate someone or feel that they are unattractive and worthless, and have compassion on them at the same time. Seeing people with the light of Jesus shining on them is directly tied to compassion. As we see with the light of Jesus, we will experience compassion as He did and be moved to reach out to others, even those that we found unattractive before we saw them in the light of Jesus.

Gentle Reader, we need to be kinder, more loving and more forgiving. It’s easy to feel this way toward those who share the same beliefs as you; those you find attractive. But the second great commandment is to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Matthew 22:39 (NKJV) It doesn’t say to only love those who you find attractive. Look at others in the light of Jesus and see them the way that He sees them. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” Ephesians 2:4-5 (ESV)