Summer Vacations, the Russ Mason Way

Illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

Dale Mason, Publisher

As I was growing up in a middle-class American family, my Dad would save dimes and dollars all year long then pack us into the car and head to jaw-dropping vistas days away. Our hot summer drives from Illinois cornfields to breezy mountain passes, deep canyons, plummeting waterfalls, and many other faraway places are among my most cherished memories.

We camped along the way and Dad and Mom focused their three sons’ attention on the amazing world around us. My whole life was affected by those trips!

We always traveled by highway, usually in a well-worn station wagon that didn’t have air conditioning (or acted like it didn’t). That was okay. I could always roll down my window and face into the warm breeze for a while. Then I’d curl up or stretch out, usually on the floorboard behind Dad, during the really long stretches.1

With blacktop that was hot enough to fry an egg whizzing by only inches beneath me, naps behind Dad and Mom’s bench seat usually meant I woke up with floor mat creases on my face and sweat running down my back. Then the in-car games like “spot the oil well” and “interstate bingo” began. Great times!

Find out about special events this summer at the Creation Museum.

Eventually Dad would pull off at a mind-blowing overlook or geological feature, Mom would pull out the picnic lunch of the day (always including either a bologna or peanut butter and jelly sandwich) and we’d hear the evolutionary story from a roadside plaque or Dad’s travel brochure. It was always about millions of years, even then. Though Dad didn’t realize it, by telling us only the evolutionary view he was prompting a quiet disbelief in the biblical account of history. Frankly however, Dad didn’t know any better at the time.

That’s why I’m thrilled that in Answers magazine you will find the kind of mysterious natural wonders Russ Mason would have loved—and how to explain them biblically! If resources like this had been at Dad’s fingertips, our summer vacations would have been even better, because he would have used our picnic lunches and campfire suppers to tell us the biblical truth . . . and Dad would have loved that!

All for Him,
Dale T. Mason, Publisher

Illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

When we start with God’s Word, we find the physical evidence confirms Scripture’s historical accuracy, whether it’s amazing rock features formed over just thousands of years, or archaeological clues that Joshua’s Conquest of Canaan really occurred just as recorded in the Bible. Such things remind us that we can believe whatever God says, including that there are no true atheists, only people who know Him but suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18–21).

–Ken Ham, President/CEO, Answers in Genesis–USA