After twenty-four years of researching and thinking about Tahquitz Canyon, I finally hiked up to the falls. Sure, it’s only about a two-mile loop trail with about a three-hundred-and-fifty-foot rise. Still, the hundred-plus steps that were twelve to twenty inches high made the trek a real accomplishment.
Back when we first moved out to the desert in 1998, I started spiritual mapping the area. I researched the history of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley to understand how the past is affecting our present and future. It was clear that Tahquitz Canyon played a significant role from the very beginning. The Cahuilla people have a deep spiritual connection to the canyon. It’s one of a couple of places where freshwater flows all year in the desert, so it sustains life.
In my historical quest, I found the story of Lonnie Frisbee, a drug addict hippie – by his own admission – who started the Jesus People Movement of the 1960s. The story I’ve read is that he went up to the Falls, dropped LSD, then had an encounter with God that so affected him that he started baptizing people that were with him. Then he went down to Orange County and connected with John Wimber and Chuck Smith, which catapulted the movement forward.
As I sat on a rock near the water, it felt like I had entered a sanctuary. The high rock walls, echoing the water splashing into the small basin, and the creek’s burble flowing down into the desert surrounded me with a sense of awe and peace. The shade of the trees, with a slight breeze, allowed me to feel the joy of the trees clapping their hands, in Isaiah 55:12. I’m not sure I can adequately explain the deep spiritual connection I had to God at that moment, but I know something shifted in me. It was as if I had a destiny moment – being in the right place at the right time so that God could use me to do something He’d been planning to do.
Internally I shouted, “Hineni” – Hebrew for “Lord, I’m ready, I’ll go, I’m listening, tell me what You would have me know.” The idea that God can use me or anyone, no matter how messed-up, to start a world-changing movement, resonated in my being. Even though I was sore and tired by the end of the hike, I now know God calling me to raise up people who are willing to go on prayer adventures with God – sacrificial acts of worship, where our presence is used to change atmospheres, spread love, and the joy of the Lord. The world needs us to listen to what we need to know, so that we can go and do what God wants at the right time. I’m confident this hike was to show me, and you, that anything is possible when we desire to be in the center of God’s will.
I long for your prayers as God continues to reveal my part to play in this new season. I’m praying that you will join me in the journey.
Andrea Sanger
@creativeprayercoach (Facebook and Instagram)
For years and years, I “talked the talk,” but didn’t “walk the walk.” I encouraged the people around me to get those outside of the church to participate in projects we sponsored that were designed to help others in the community – with food, clothing, gifts, and more. However, I was guilty of never actually doing that myself.
the walk. I invited my Toastmasters Club (a training group for public speaking) to join me in collecting food for The Narrow Door – who provides food for many in the Coachella Valley. Yes, I got creative in my asking, by tying this activity to a PR project that everyone in Toastmasters had to complete at some point. The results, though, were amazing. The club jumped on board, and we collected over 100 pounds of food. Everyone expressed the joy at being able to help others in need.
