Death Valley doesn't often conjur up thoughts of life and restoration. More often, it evokes incredibly strong images of barrenness, drought, great hardship and even death. One would think that spending time at sunset on the surface of Badwater (the lowest elevation in the United States at 282 feet below sea level) wouldn't change that image much. Surprisingly, while walking on the crackling surface and trying to reconcile in my mind the strange, stark beauty of the place, I was filled with awe and wonder that our Creator transforms His world over and over again. There are times when Badwater actually becomes a shallow lake and striated salt flat disappears beneath beautifully reflective water. This night, though, the surface extends for many beautiful miles before me, reaching toward the sunset with soft, convoluted shadows and a "thirst" for the diminishing light of day. I, too, thirst ... but it's a thirst for the light of our Creator that fills the shadowy cracks and crevices of our hearts and life.