The Double Arch is gone, but God's love is here to stay

When rocks themselves fall away, we need assurance that there is one constant amid the impermanence.

(RNS) — What’s the most significant event to happen to our planet in 2024? It might be the sudden collapse last August of Utah’s ancient and spectacular Double Arch, a circular stone formation on Lake Powell known familiarly as “Nature’s Toilet Bowl.”

Big deal?

Not so, said Jeff Moore, a professor of geology at the University of Utah, who called it “just a natural process in the life span of an arch.” A National Park Service statement reassured us that the sandy formation had already been broken and eroded by weather, wind and rain over the course of many years.

So, in other words, it had nothing to do with human-driven climate change.

Nothing to see here. Keep the line moving.

I have my doubts. Double Arch was formed from Navajo sandstone dating to 190 million years ago, during the late Triassic to early Jurassic periods. Shouldn’t we be concerned that a natural structure that has been in existence for 190 million years spit the bit and had its number called now? This year?

When it seems like the whole world is metaphorically crashing down around us, it’s rather disconcerting to have 190-million-year-old rock formations literally crashing down around us!

As with any sudden disappearance of something that’s been a constant in our lives — and for about 185 million years before there was human life — some people waxed sentimental about the loss. One person wrote on Instagram of this “majestic spot,” reminiscing how intrepid family members would jump from the rim into the water far below.

OK, so the rational side of me understands that natural structures have a life cycle, like trees and people, and there’s something comforting about that. Rock formations, like stars, “die” too, only a whole lot more slowly than us.

A National Parks spokesperson, Michelle Kerns, did not rule out the human factor, saying: “This event serves as a reminder of our responsibility and need to protect the mineral resources surrounding Lake Powell. These features have a life span that can be influenced or damaged by manmade interventions.”

But we must also consider that this is just the way of all rock. Quoted in an AP story, Karen Garthwait, spokesperson for Arches and Canyonlands national parks, said, “Our mission is not to freeze time and preserve these structures exactly as they are. Our mission is to preserve the natural processes that create these structures, which of course, is the same process that will eventually undo them as well.”

Our mission as believers in the Creator is to treasure these magnificent structures for the priceless wonders that they are, and to treat all of God’s works with respect and the utmost care.

The rest of this column can be read free of charge on the RNS website (click here).