Dry valleys

In the enormous and very cold desert that is Antarctica,* (actually the largest desert in the world, half as big again as the Sahara.) there are many strange natural phenomena. One of the weirdest in a land of ice, massive glaciers and snow is a vast system of dry valleys and lakes that are formed by melting glaciers. There is little to smell or taste when hiking through the intensely dry landscape. The air, water, ice and rocks give off few molecules detectable by the human taste buds or nose.

These valleys are known by the simple and obvious title of “Dry Valleys” and it has been estimated that no rain has fallen there for at least 5,000 years. This area of almost 5,000 square kilometers on the west side of the Ross Sea, across from Ross Island where New Zealand’s Scot Base is located. Even glaciers that "flow" into the dry valleys are doomed to simply vanish into the extraordinary dry atmosphere. 

The snout of this glacier is about 50 meters high.

The most striking feature of the Dry Valleys is that they are almost completely free of snow. What life that manages to exist in this hostile environment is amongst the simplest on the planet. It consists of little clumps of brown algae called cyanobacteria, growing on the edges of the few ice-free lakes in the valleys. This simple life-form manufactures its own anti-freeze, but pollutes the lake water with toxins, rendering it undrinkable. Any future Mars Astronauts are like to train here, as this place is the most Mars like area that we get on our little blue globe.

The entire valley system is regularly blasted by freezing Katabatic Winds that roar down off the high Polar Plateau, a constant source of intensely cold, dense air. These winds rage for weeks on end, and when they finally blow themselves out, screaming westerlies replace them. While this is a region of stark beauty, it’s intensely inhospitable, and it’s likely the loneliest place one could ever wish to find.  There is ample geological evidence that eons ago the dry valleys were lush and life sustaining. Embedded in the rock strata are massive coal seams and all manner of long extinct life forms.

There are times during our “faith walk” when we have to endure the spiritual equivalent of Antarctica’s Dry Valleys. Jesus knew such times, so did the ancient patriarchs, and one can only wonder at the feelings Moses must have experienced during his desert years.

Alone, to face the world.

When Christian friends abandon us over some perceived slight, we feel the pain intensely, and the wound often takes much longer to heal than any physical injury. When brothers or sisters that we hold in high regard do stupid or fallible human things that leave us questioning the validity of our own faith; when our faith is tested to its limits, either by circumstances, or by the actions of others, we reel from the seemingly endless assaults on all that we hold to be true. 

Most, if not all of our spiritual ancestors have walked this way…. And many have never fully entered into the promises of God, this side of eternity. I like the way the Message Version of the Bible relates this….     

Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. Hebrews 11:13  Transients in this world…or as the KJV says, strangers.

When we are walking in the dry valleys, when all around us is toxic or desolate, we have to learn to accept, with the resignation that is faith, that our future is assured. Faith that wavers with circumstances is not faith… it’s something else. We need to develop a faith mentality that is in accordance with the Bible’s definition of faith… “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1  

Our faith needs to be such that it apprehends as a real fact what is not revealed to the senses. It rests on that fact, acts upon it, and is upheld by it in the face of all that seems to contradict it. Faith is a real seeing that despite all appearances to the contrary, what God has said will happen, will actually happen!

Dry Valley photo: National Geographic; used with permission.  
* Antarctica is officially a desert because it receives less than 25cm of rain annually, and the continent has no rivers.