Cerro Negro

 


This week I began my 7-week mission trip in Nicaragua.  As part of the “Welcome,” the Amigos team typically leads a group to climb an active volcano. 

Yesterday morning at 6am (long before we headed out to board our buses) the temperature here was 86 degrees and the humidity was 98%.  I had a feeling the climb would be brutal...

Now I had done this same thing back in June 2 years ago, but back then I was about 20 pounds lighter, and 2 years younger and I’m telling you from experience – those things can make a difference…

Anyway, the volcano itself is 500 meters tall, and we were told we could either take the hard way, or the ridiculously hard way up.  Of course, I chose HARD…and man was it ever!  Not only is the volcano lacking any sort of vegetation or shade, at all points you are attempting to move UPWARD walking on top of rocks that seem like their only goal is to move DOWNWARD.

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Juntos means “together” and in this climb there is no man left behind – even if you’re a slow old 59-year-old lady.  So, members of the Amigos team stayed with me, the whole way up – resting as much as I needed, and offering salt and more water (after mine had run out).

I’ve heard it said that “God will never give you more than you can handle…” but I think it should be amended to, “God will never give you more than you can handle, without making a way for you to handle it.”

As I was climbing (or maybe as I was resting, or panting, or feeling like I might throw up), some words from Psalm 121 came to mind, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  

On the climb, God sent me help in the form of some wonderfully patient, kind hearted souls who provided aid and encouragement all the way to the top.  Then, when we got there, God gave me views, a breeze, and some awesome and powerful conversations that I WOULD NOT have had, had I stayed on the ground.

Our devotional in the morning asked us to “see God in all things,” and my take away was that when I am facing some difficult “mountains” in life, I must remember that God is always there to help me climb them!

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