I have vivid childhood memories of climbing the highest sand dune on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Pigeon Hill rose more than 300 feet above the entrance to Muskegon Lake and covered 30 acres. It was a tough challenge to climb this magnificent mound.

But now Pigeon Hill is only a memory. The big dune was purchased by Sand Products Corporation for commercial use. Giant clamshell cranes scooped its fine sand onto conveyer belts that poured into the cargo holds of Great Lakes steamers. Boatload after boatload of sand was shipped to Detroit, Toledo, and other industrial centers to be used as the cores for engine castings and other iron and alloy products.

Bit by bit, Pigeon Hill disappeared. What once was a lung-bursting climb is now "a walk in the park."

The disappearance of Pigeon Hill reminds me of Isaiah's glorious description of the preparation for the return of Christ (Is. 40:1-5). Mountains will be leveled, valleys filled, and crooked roads made straight at the time of Jesus' second coming. He will return in glory, and the days of sin and suffering will become a dim, distant memory.

In anticipation of that wonderful day, we exclaim, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).  — David C. Egner