Beautiful, Beautiful Zion

"Be kindly affectioned to one another in brotherly love; in honour preferring one another."  Romans 12:10 KJV

My older brother and I had a rather contentious relationship as children and as teenagers.  It never really occurred to either one of us that we could be good friends. All that changed during the summer of 1971, the summer after I graduated from high school. He drove out of his way  nearly 500 miles to spend less that twenty-four hours with me just because he thought I could use his company. Under the circumstances, I had never been more glad to see someone who cared about me in my life.

Since then it has not always been "nothing but love" in our friendship, How often is  "nothing but love"  a reality in any relationship? Friction happens between any two objects that touch.  But since that day I have always known that my brother has had  my back. I have always (usually) enjoyed his friendship and his company.  Again, doesn't "always(usually)", if we're completely honest,  apply even to the best of relationships?

If "brotherly love" had not been a reality before, it certainly was during and after a trip together to the south rim of the Grand Canyon in April of 1997. Except for a few inevitable  close company for a week incidents, much fun was had by all. We stood at the rim about midnight seeing the Hale-Bopp Comet hanging in the sky above our heads. You could reach up and almost touch it. After exploring the south rim, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelley and more, it was the two hours we spent in Sedona, Arizona on our way back to the airport that was the most significant. We both left a part of our souls in the Chapel of the Holy Cross. My big brother and I  emerged from the trip being closer than when we had dived in.

Four years ago my brother gave me one of the most amazing and difficult challenges of my life.  He told me that he wanted me to plan a trip for the two of  us. "But here is the catch" he said. "I'm going to tell you how much money I'm willing to spend, how much time I'm willing to be gone and you plan the rest. I really don't care where we go or what we do; I just want you to spend time with you. You tell me what day and where to meet you and I'll show up."

When I started planning our trip, it was fun and exciting.  However, very quickly in the process I had a huge problem.  Thinking about the trip was a lot of fun; planning specific destinations was fairly difficult. When I travel it is my personality to defer to the group. I have preferences of things to see and do, but I really don't care. "Let's just enjoy each other's company." As a person born to please, I needed so badly to run ideas by him to see if that might be what he wanted to do.  He had mentioned at times that he wanted to see New York City. He had suggested that he wanted to spend some time in Washington, D.C. He had mentioned a road trip up the east coast.  He had expressed a desire to see the north rim of the Grand Canyon. But the challenge to me was to plan it with no input from him. None.

The trip was over a year in the making. I decided on the north rim as the hub of the trip. Like I said, I have preferences. Just staring at the map of the United States, I discovered Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon, Utah, just a few hours road trip from the Grand Canyon. My initial plan was for us to fly in and out of Flagstaff, Arizona from Atlanta  and end the trip in Sedona.  But again just looking at the map I realized that the drive to the north rim was much closer from Las Vegas.  So now we had another significant waypoint. It was a gamble, but I thought he might enjoy Las Vegas best of all.  I lost that bet.

Although I did much of the thinking, I didn't do most of the planning. As I sketched in my general ideas for the trip, my wife made most of the decisions and reservations regarding "planes, trains and automobiles."  We had seats on jets, food to eat, a nice car to drive and beds to sleep in all along the way because of her. She's a pharmacist. Details are what she does best. I'm a musician. Hiking through and appreciating the grandeur  of the canyons of the American West is what I do best.  I did have the foresight to obtain maps and turn- by-turn directions for the whole trip from AAA. In the last several days leading up to the trip I had had a sinking feeling that I was forgetting something. I checked everything several times. Reservations. Clothing. Credit Cards.Cash.  I had everything I needed.  At three o'clock in the morning, thirty miles down the road in the airport shuttle, to my horror I realized that I had left all the maps and the directions  on my bookshelf at home. I told my brother, who was sitting beside me on the shuttle what I had done. He asked, "Then what are we going to do?"  I said, "Give me a minute."  I put my head in my hands, regretted being born and contemplated our plight. Nevada, Arizona and Utah with no maps or directions.   I got an idea.  My wife typed those turn-by-turn directions into an email and sent them to me. And we bought maps in the airport. Crisis averted.

The trip was nothing short of incredible.  But when the entire experience was in the rear-view mirror., it was not the telescopes at Bryce, the Upper Emerald Falls or the hummingbirds in Springdale, but it was that accidental two hours we spent in the middle of the night in Zion that was the most memorable.  At most canyons you look down. In Zion you look up. At two o'clock in the morning standing in a canyon looking up at mountain peaks in nothing but moonlight, you don't see the mountains, you hear them and feel them..  Whatever part of our souls that we had not left in Sedona, we had left there. During times of meditation and distress I take myself to that place and that night time and time again.  And I was with my brother.

"Brotherly love" is a metaphor for deep feelings for another person.  We can extend "brotherly love" to even strangers.  But when brotherly love is a actual fact, a literal relationship, it is one of the most signifcant relationships possible. The bond is remarkable.  My big brother left here this morning going home after a long weekend with my wife and me. Because of some family health issues, it had been quite a while. My wife,  he and I  had the usual experience of talking about days gone by, including those wonderful and difficult days of growing up together with our kid sister at 102 Glenn Street,  Enterprise,  Alabama. After they're gone, you can blame nearly everything on your parents. And, of course, we spent an abundance of time laughing.  Last night he said, "I'm ready to go back west.  And I want you to plan everything again." I told him that I would if he would just tell me where he wanted to start. With no hesitation, he said, "Zion  Canyon."

With the limitations of time and money my brother had given me four years ago, I had to eliminate so many possibilities.When I looked at a map of the American West and explored the available national parks, the possibilities were endless.  When I look again, those possibilities will still still be staggering in scope.  But this time, with this trip I will know that if we somehow get stuck in Zion our trip will be complete.  With any trip it's not where you go, but who you're with that you will remember. I'll be with my brother. And there are very few people who I enjoy spending time with more than him. "We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God."