El desierto de sonora

Photo dump!

Celebratory storm

We had an awesome series of storms go through the Tucson basin on the 4th of July.  All through the night, we had rain. Woke up to it, then it stopped mid-morning while I got coffee with a friend, and as I drove home I could see it in the distance...loooooming.  

I must find it!  

So I drove speedily home, changed, grabbed the dog, and we were off!  We went out to Tucson Mountain Park, because I know the area and there aren't really any low spots (both necessary to be wise with potential flash flooding). It was GORGEOUS.  Took these shots either in the wash in the morning or driving into the park. I didn't bring my phone on the trail for fear it would get soaked.  

I'm glad I proved to be right! :D 

Here's the radar from the area - the big orange-red dot was about to hit where I was. Oh joy that was mine.  The dog has never been so clean :)

cactus of redemption

When I went hiking on Sunday, I kept seeing cacti that were all gnarled and rotted, and the thought "that's what we would be like without Jesus" kept running through my brain. Jesus takes us, wrecked and mangled by sin, and makes into something new and beautiful. It'd be like if the cactus went from the one in this picture to a lovely, perfect one. Unfortunately that doesn't happen for the cactus, but it does with us! 

As I get older, I feel like God lets me experience the depth of my sin and ugliness to know how much it cost him to save me. Seeing this cactus on Sunday made me so grateful for the power of Christ and how much he loves me...so I had to take a picture to emphasize the death of the ravaged cactus...