It’s my last full day here in Seattle (unless you are in the UK and it’s already Wednesday!) The sun is shining and Mount Rainier has appeared from behind the clouds. Well … strictly speaking the clouds have lifted and rainier has always been there, but the locals say she has come out and so who am I to argue!!

The sight is pretty amazing. The skyline of Seattle is impressive but seen next to the massiveness of Rainier its kind of pales into insignificance.

To me it is a kind of iconic appearance. Here in a place like Seattle where life is pretty progressive and people enjoy life and know how to party, it is quite easy to think that we are very much in control of our lives and have to worry about nothing else. This place has been built by pioneering people and it is easy to think there was nothing here before. I have spoken to many people here and a typical topic we have got around to chatting about is that I am based in a 1400 year old cathedral. Seattle history starts in 1851, and so the city is only 159 years old. People have spoken of the history of the are being very young.

Then … a day like today comes, when this massive volcano created by God just appears, sitting quietly reminding us that this area is much bigger than city life and does have a much longer history – the present cone of the volcano is though to be 500 000 years old – that’s pretty impressive. It serves as a reminder that before us was God, and lying quietly and waiting the creator still stands and is ready to receive us when we are ready to give ourselves.