The next helper who had a report was a young man who talked very fast and did not seem to make any sense at all! He said, “Hi youuu, doo you see any hoo-doo’s? Doo youuu have a cow that says Moo Doo? Sue doo moo hoo doo new doo hoo too quoo doo hoo noo coo doo hoo doo!”
The teacher said, “Slow down! You are not making any sense!”
The helper took a minute to calm down and then said, “I’m sorry, but I am so excited to tell you about hoodoos that I got carried away!”
The teacher said, “You are not making sense again! There are no such things as hoodoos!”
The helper said, “Yes there are such things as hoodoos, they are found in Bryce Canyon National Park!”
Bryce Canyon in southern Utah is filled with hundreds of stone pillars that are called hoodoo’s. Some are as short as five feet tall, but most are much taller than that, some are 150 feet tall! These stone pillars are have many fantastic shapes and look like some has carved them. There is no where else in the world where there are so many hoodoos so close together!
A hoodoo is made from sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock is formed in layers, usually by floods. After the layer of sediment is laid down by a flood, if it gets compressed it can be formed into rock. Later another flood deposits another layer, and it keeps building in this way. If the top layer of sedimentary rock is a lot harder than the layers under it, then it is possible for a hoodoo to form. Two natural processes called ‘weathering’ and ‘erosion’ cut away the softer rock under the hard top layer and leave the tower of rock that we call a hoodoo.
Weathering is the process of rock breaking down due to the forces of weather. Erosion is the process of loose soil and rock chips getting carried away by wind or water until only the pillar under the hard rock on top remains.
So, why are there so many hoodoos in Bryce Canyon? It is because of the rock and the weather in Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon is made of sedimentary rock. The top layer of rock is harder than the layers under it. For around 200 days out of the year the temperature in Bryce Canyon dips below freezing during the night and then gets hot during the day. During the hot days, water seeps into cracks in the rock, and then it freezes at night. When the water freezes, it expands and cracks the rock, causing chips of rock to break off. The next time it rains, the chips of rock get washed away. This process is repeated many times during each year, and the hoodoos are formed.
Application for you and me:
This helper found a God-Connection by comparing the way hoodoos are formed to the way sin works in a person’s life. Sin chips away the good parts of our life until only a hard core remains. A person who lives under the control of sin for many years becomes a hard-hearted, uncaring, and unpleasant person.
In the Bible in Hebrews 3:7-8 it says:
That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested Me in the wilderness.
When a person has a hard heart, they stop caring for others, they might become angry or bitter, they stop loving God and others, and eventually they become miserable. God does not want us to live like this! When a person asks Jesus to come into their life and forgive their sins, God also changes their heart!
In the Bible in Ezekiel 36:26-27 it says:
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
When a person gets this new heart from God, they begin to truly live!
In the Bible in John 10:10 Jesus says:
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
Choose Jesus today! Do not let your heart become weathered and eroded like a hoodoo. Let Jesus give you a new heart and a rich and satisfying life!