Once-in-a-Lifetime May Be Now.

October 11, 2023

Our family trip was a “once-in-a-lifetime” event.

I had a business trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and as we anticipated it being one of our last opportunities, we decided to take family, that could make the trip, with us. We had a great time tacking a few days on the end of business to vacation in Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, and the Grand Teton National Park. Being an avid amateur photographer, I researched sites to photograph.

Mormon Row and the Moulton Barns turned out to be one of the most popular across all research sites. Several resources said the Moulton Barn was the most photographed barn in America. Here’s a little about the setting.

“Mormon John Moulton homesteaded this property in 1908. Moulton had migrated from Chapin, Idaho, accompanied by his brothers Alma and Wallace, and his friends Thomas Murphy and Ernest Stone. Between 1908 and 1916, Moulton cleared 80 acres of sage, planted 60 acres in oats and hay, and constructed a house, barn, corral, and fences on the land. For the first few years after moving to Mormon Row, Moulton and his brother returned to Idaho during winters to “work for a grubstake.” Extant buildings at the John Moulton Homestead include a house, barn, two outhouses, shower house, bunkhouse, granary, pumphouse, and corral. The John Moulton House is the most substantial historic home on Mormon Row. The building has pink-tinted stucco walls and was constructed ca. 1938, replacing an earlier home. The gambrel-with-shed log barn was constructed between 1908 and 1916.”[1]

We got up early and piled into our rental vehicle and headed to Mormon Row to beat the sunrise. My son-in-law and I took our cameras across the sagebrush in the dark and set up, waiting for the sun to rise and paint the sky. Since I had one shot at photographing the buildings on Mormon Row because of our schedule, I had to take the weather as it came.

Unfortunately, we had a hazy day and the sun’s rays never did quite break through that early morning. I have several hundred photographs and it seems like they went from dark, to hazy, to full sun all within a few minutes. My “once-in-a-lifetime” trip actually felt like a “few short minutes-in-a-lifetime event.”

Believe me, my wife and I have never sat around our breakfast table in North Carolina and asked, “Want to take a weekend and run out to the Grand Teton National Park to take some photographs?”

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Still, by God’s grace, the landscape’s quietness on that early morning, along with the several hours of simply standing in a field experiencing the anticipation of getting just the right shot was something I’ll never forget.

This makes me think about our decision to follow Jesus. We never know what is going to happen in the following minutes, days, months, or years. Our “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity may be right now.

Jesus tells us in Luke 40 to be ready.

“You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:40, NIV)

Here, Jesus is specifically talking about His return. We, too, should be ready. We may have that “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to accept Him as Lord and Savior.

We, too, should take every opportunity to forgive others, to ask forgiveness from others, to speak a word of kindness, and to tell our loved ones we love them.

Even though I enjoyed my trip to the Grand Teton National Park and the opportunity to take pictures of sites I’ll likely never see again, I wish I had relished the moments just a bit more. I need to also do that more in other areas of life.

How about you?

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[1] https://bestofthetetons.com/2017/12/17/mormon-row-historic-documentation/