Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Sunrise Service at the Top of the Tram

Happy Easter! This morning consisted of an early morning ride up to the top of San Jacinto Mountain on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Amid darkness, I caught the 4:30 AM tram and in just 10 minutes I was at the top. You see, I had been planning to attend the Easter Sunrise Service at the top of our beautiful mountain, 10,000 feet high. In all the years I've lived here, I've never done it before, so this was the year! It was a non-denominational Christian service of hymns, a sermon and some time for prayer, all in time for dawn to break. When the service had concluded, everyone walked outside to view the sunrise. With the choir still singing, the outdoor speakers carried "Amazing Grace" to the peaks of Mount San Jacinto. These were the views I saw:























































back inside the station, I saw the lily plants I had missed earlier, in the darkness














the ride back down the tram seemed especially beautiful this Easter morning














I'm really glad I awakened so early to participate in the sunrise service, it was special and memorable. Back at home, my own Easter Lilly plant was in full bloom, which made me smile. I love the smell of lilies in bloom. I sat down and took a few moments to reflect on the sermon earlier. I wish you all the blessings of Easter, to you and your family.

And now, its time to enjoy my Easter Cream Eggs!
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7 comments:

  1. Empress Bee (of the high sea)April 24, 2011 at 10:27 AM

    amazingly beautiful rick!

    smiles, bee
    xoxoxoxoxo

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  2. A LewisApril 24, 2011 at 12:51 PM

    Wow! What a way to begin the day. So beautiful. And I can just about smell those flowers. Happy Easter.

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  3. kenjuApril 24, 2011 at 4:58 PM

    The views were definitely worth getting up early for! I prepared 26 of the lily plants (baskets and moss and bows) yesterday for a church service. They smelled Heavenly.

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  4. JeniApril 24, 2011 at 8:56 PM

    Although I sometimes -make that frequently -burn the midnight oil and even stay up sometimes till the break of day, it is a rare, very rare occasion when I am actually up really early and going out someplace too. But believe it or not, this Easter I actually -thanks to Mandy's alarm clock and her waking up to get me and the two little ones up -made it up and to the sunrise service this year at our church, and we stayed for the very delicious Easter Breakfast that followed that too. I think it's probably very close to 50 years since the last time I made it to the sunrise service but am very glad that I did that.
    The pics you posted of the view from where you attended worship -awesome, just awesome!

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  5. Karelian BlondeApril 25, 2011 at 12:03 AM

    Breath taking views! Wow...

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  6. KathyAApril 25, 2011 at 9:49 AM

    'Amazing' is so right for this!

    Did you happen to notice my nails embedded in the steel railing of the tram from our trip last month? :)

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  7. limeApril 26, 2011 at 7:20 AM

    it looks and sounds like it was a truly lovely way to start the celebration. thanks for sharing it with us.

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Thank you kindly.