Discovering Thin Spaces by David Gausepohl

  Please welcome community member David Gausepohl. Dave is a longtime outdoors enthusiast, Truth seeker and contributor to The Urban Frontier.

A “thin place” is where the distance between heaven and earth seems paper thin. Often my discovery of a thin place surprises me, for I am not in search of it at the time. Yet God's Spirit is present in a tangible way, such that he can be perceived with the five senses. Perhaps he is whispering on a wind, or a fragrance, or a sound, or in some example of beauty…or all of the above. Example: 

While hiking in South Texas close to the Rio Grande river 7 years ago, I had called it a day. I was making my way back to the camp house along a not-so-tall cliff top at sunset, the crest of this bluff to my right.

Though not South Texas, this Coastal Texas anvil cloud (cumulonimbus incus) heralds of a Thin Space.

  As I stopped to check my footing I looked left to see the sun washing yellow and orange across multiple valleys and the bluffs dividing them, all the way to the horizon. I thought, “Beautiful Lord!” Simultaneously the wind broke over the bluff to my right, rustling through the scrub cedars that capped the high ground. That sound, and the resulting smell of cedar blended with the feast my eyes were taking in. I had to sit down, for I was overwhelmed with the sense of his presence, breathing in this sacred moment. Four minutes into it he put the cherry on top as a flock of wild turkeys appeared on the next bluff across the shallow valley 75 yards away. I prayed out loud, “You’re just showing off now.” I heard the Spirit whisper, “Thanks for sharing this moment with Us.” I could not move for a while. I had indeed discovered a thin place between heaven and earth.

Enjoy the pictures,

Thanks for reading,

David Gausepohl

Thin spaces are places we can only visit for now. For a moment our lives are uncluttered and more direct.

Clouds and rain cool the Texas prairie in the summer.

Sometimes you transport yourself to a thin space through adventurous sleep. This is a New Mexico camp site.

Often times unique features, weather events or animals mark the time and places in our minds.

Thin Spaces are where they find you, like this New Mexico rain storm.