Creation vacation is just the ticket for your family

Whether it’s dino digs, fossil float trips, creation museums, canyons, or petrified forests, America is full of God’s handiwork just waiting to be explored. Our family has been so blessed to be able to travel coast to coast, presenting creation seminars for churches, Christian schools and camps, home school groups, and other groups and ministries, and on the way we’ve been able to explore God’s creation together. In this and future articles, we want to tell you about some of the treasures that we’ve found that you may want to visit when you are traveling.

We believe the geological site in America with the most Biblically affirming evidence is Mount St. Helens, located in the southwestern corner of Washington, near Mount Rainier. When the volcano erupted in May 1980, geological features such as layered sediment, canyons, badlands, and pre-coal beds (accumulated bark) formed in hours and days. The eruption showed how quickly a catastrophe could reshape the earth’s crust, giving us a glimpse of the devastation that occurred at the time of the worldwide flood of Noah’s day, and blasting millions of years off earth’s geologic clock that is proclaimed by evolutionists. (Learn more.)

The two main ways geologists date the earth are by counting sedimentary layers (comparable to counting tree rings) and radioactive dating (comparing the amount of radioactive isotopes in igneous rock), both of which are said to “prove” dates in the millions to billions of years. Yet, when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, up to 400 feet of finely layered strata filled the neighboring Toutle Valley, each layer sometimes forming in a matter of seconds or minutes—not many years! Just six years later, in 1986, scientists from the Institute for Creation Research had rock samples of the new lava dome tested. Using the K-Ar (Potassium-Argon) dating method, the newly formed rock was given an age of 350,000 years! The ages the tests “proved” varied widely, depending on the method used, showing how unreliable these results really are.

There is so much to do and see at Mount St. Helens, trails to hike, museums to visit. (There is a creation-based one called 7Wonders Museum. Please tell the Andersons, who run the museum, that the Estell family says “hello.”) If at all possible, go to both sides of the volcano. It is well worth the drive to see the lava tube, lava tree casts, and canyons.

Why not use your family’s vacation to explore God’s creation? There is nothing more important than instilling in the minds of our children an unshakable faith in the truth of God’s Holy Word. How can we expect the next generation to live their lives for God when their minds are full of nagging doubts about His very existence? But there is hope. Belief in God is not a blind leap of faith. God’s fingerprints are everywhere throughout His creation. Going as a family and exploring God’s creation would be a learning experience they will never forget.

If you cannot travel to Mount St. Helens, you can still learn of its wonders through the many available resources. The Awesome Science with Noah Justice series has a detailed, kid friendly DVD which we highly recommend. Our family has made an audio story of a family exploring the volcano, which we hope to have available soon.

Attending lectures, watching DVDs, and reading books will do much to strengthen the faith of your children. Organizations like Institute for Creation Research, Answers in Genesis, Creation Ministries International and many others offer an abundance of resources which clearly show God’s creative power in nature.

We hope to one day visit Mount St. Helens again. Maybe we will see you there.

Brian and Carla Estell are cofounders of The Stones’ True Story. They and their six homeschooled children travel across the country, spreading the Gospel and proclaiming the Biblical truth of Creation and the worldwide flood.