The other day I went for a hike at Pinnacles National Park. This is a park where you can see the California condor, an almost extinct bird and enjoy some other sights as well. Now to see the condors, which is always my goal, you need to get there early. I always tell myself I will get there early but never get there as early as I would like. This time wasn’t any different.

After the 30 minute drive to the park, I took a hike up to the high peaks but did not get to the end of the trail. Spent lots of time taking pictures and enjoying the view. Got about 11 a.m. or so and decided to walk back down. I got to a certain point and stopped for a while. It was amazing! There is no cell phone service in the park which lets you and your thoughts be pretty much alone. I stopped on a decent rock to sit on and while there I noticed that all I heard was silence. The wind was not blowing then and there were no birds singing. All I heard was nothing. It is a type of music to your ears. It happens so seldom in our world. There is always something making noise whether it is a heater kicking on or just cars driving by your house. Almost nowhere in our world do we hear silence. It is almost unheard of. With that in mind, I lingered there sitting on the rock for some time just so I could hear nothing. Then the wind picks up and I started walking again. The magic had ended.

I got to thinking. You have a lot of time to do that while hiking down the trail. I was thinking about Elijah seeing God. A huge wind to break rocks came first but God was not in it. Then came an earthquake. But God was not in it either. Next was the fire. God was not in it either. The New Revised Standard Version says, “a sound of sheer silence.” That is when Elijah went out to the cave entrance to see God. Maybe what we need is a little more silence so we know when God is near. Or maybe we need a little more silence so we can hear God. Either way, we need to tune our ears and our hearts to hear God better.