Canyon Ministries

Reflections from a Board Member – John Kelley

I remember my first trip to the Grand Canyon. In fact, I remember every one of my trips to the Grand Canyon as though it was my first! My love of the Canyon began the summer between my seventh and eighth grade when our youth group preformed a musical drama there for three nights and then hiked the canyon. As we were hiking out on that hot and dusty day, just before dusk, clouds appeared overhead and a light mist descended, it was so refreshing. Then the sky seemed to begin ‘glowing’ orange and as I looked up I saw a rainbow! What? I was in the midst of the Grand Canyon, God’s ‘Exhibit A’ of the global flood of Noah’s day and there is a rainbow! I’m getting chills even as I write this!

Over the past 37 years I’ve been blessed to spend many days in the Grand Canyon and its surrounding area. However, one visit really stands out in my mind; the first time I rafted the Colorado River with Canyon Ministries. It was an amazing time as the Canyon and Genesis chapters 1-11 ‘became alive’ to me as never before. I compare that time in the Canyon to the first time visiting Israel where ‘the Bible came alive as though it never had before.’

Little did I know that river trip was the beginning of an opportunity to help share this Grand experience with thousands of others over the next 10 plus years. Whether participating in board responsibilities or guiding a tour, each time I visit the Canyon, it truly is like the first time being there; it’s never the same. And then, getting the opportunity to share it with others is the ‘icing on the cake’. I invite you to come experience God’s Love, Majesty, Truth, Justice and Redemption with us at the Grand Canyon!