A 66-Year-Old’s Remarkable Walk—From the Grand Canyon to the Creation Museum!

It is one of the most remarkable feats I have heard of in recent times. Lowell Shoaf, an Ohio resident and supporter of Answers in Genesis, will complete a 1,800-mile walk across America this Saturday, Lord willing, as he arrives at our Creation Museum in the Cincinnati area. Now, a number of people have completed long walks like this, but how many of them were 66 years old and have had a knee replaced? It is remarkable.

Lowell’s ambitious trek is his special fundraising effort to benefit Canyon Ministries (led by Tom Vail), Answers in Genesis, and AiG’s Ark Encounter project. In early June, Lowell started his walk at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. During his four months of walking to the Creation Museum—battling blisters, a hot summer, and careless drivers—Lowell has brought awareness and raised financial support for both Canyon Ministries of Arizona and AiG’s full-size Ark to be built in northern Kentucky. The journey that Lowell has been on is called “The Canyon-to-Creation Walk and Pray.”

Why start at the bottom of the Grand Canyon?

As Tom Vail explains during his frequent raft trips through the canyon, you can actually see the foundational “basement rock” of the earth, a part of the original creation. As the trail comes up from the bottom of the canyon, it passes through rock layers—about a mile thick—full of fossils. In the Grand Canyon we see evidence of depositions laid down catastrophically, just as we would expect based on the account of Noah’s Flood in Genesis 6. When starting from the biblical worldview, the testimony for the reliability of the Genesis account of the Flood is so evident at the canyon. Therefore, it’s fitting that Lowell is using it to help draw attention and donations to the Ark Encounter and its presentation of the Flood and Ark of Noah.

The funds raised by Lowell on his 1,800-mile walk will also benefit the annual “Christian Leaders’ Grand Canyon Trip,” where AiG partners with The Master’s Seminary and Canyon Ministries to provide scholarships to 24 Christian ministry leaders and professors from seminaries and Bible colleges from all around the world on a raft trip through the Grand Canyon. The scholars’ trip is designed to equip these influential men with a solid understanding of the biblical, scientific, and historical data confirming the validity of God’s Word, especially as it relates to the Flood and the age of the earth.

Please consider showing your support of Lowell by going to this link.

“Redeeming the Time”

Ultimately, however, Lowell’s reason for enduring a 1,800-mile walk is to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and to have them believe in the absolute authority of the entire Bible as God’s Word. This is the message we teach at Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum—and the future Ark.

Lowell is truly “redeeming the time” (Ephesians 5:16) as he spends so many weeks on foot and walking on his new knee. While he walked, Lowell prayed for the nation as a whole, for the towns he passed, and also for the many individuals he had the privilege of meeting along the way.

Please join with me in praying for these last two days of Lowell’s cross-country walk, including his safety. We are blessed and excited to have the privilege of welcoming Lowell and his wife Pat to the Creation Museum this Saturday and celebrating with them on the completion of this wonderful and unique outreach!