December 16,2010,
There is something about hiking and reaching a peak that excites me. I love the challenge of the climb and then the view from the top. On Sunday I woke up early to head out to a volcano with an "extreme hiking group" here in El Salvador. The climb began with us winding through a coffee plantation ripe with coffee beans. They were so pretty that I was tempted to snag a few and eat them but I resisted the temptation. Along the road we came upon a coral snake that had been cut up but it was still obvious as to what it was. I preferred coming upon it dead than alive.
After the coffee plantation we began the real ascent with some steep grades and slippery terrain because we were walkig on loose volcanic rock. One of the words of warning that the guard gave us was that of, "Make sure a rock is solid before you step on it. Sometimes the big ones seems solid but when you put your weight on them, they start an avalanche of rocks." I reflected on that statement as I gingerly tested rocks before putting my weight on them. I thought of how sometimes even in life, that which appears solid, will suddenly give way. At one point I was singing (in my head) "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand ... ." I encountered quite a few other analogies in my hike that day. At one point one of the girls -- a new found friend -- reached back to offer me a hand up a large rock. I hesitated a moment before accepting herself because I knew that I could do it alone. But as I thought about, I realized, but why? She had gone before me and was already up on the rock. Accepting her help would make my climb easier. So why not let others help me? It was a good reminder to curb some of my independence and allow others to bless me and help me along.
The rocks I had to climb or step over along the way reminded me of another song called "The Lead of Love" by Caedmon's Call. The words that were in my mind were that of, "... you have to walk the rocks to see the mountain view... looking back I see the lead of love." I love that about life that as we move forward from a moment of difficulty, a rock or obstacle, if we reflect on the moment, we can see God's lead of love through those hard times and that in the end He has a plan and purpose for our lives. The rock we had to face was not the end. He is there with us among the rocks, offering a hand and comfort or even carrying us at times, and afterwards He is has a mountain view for us -- the opportunity to look back and see the purpose for which He allowed us to struggle over those rocks. Sometimes we cannot see the reason until much later, but there is good to come from even those bad situations because God is a God of love.
When we reached the top of the volcano, the crater was barren with sulpher fumes coming out and a gurgling sound coming from it. There was a little ledge where I could sit and see to my left the barreness of the crater and to the right the green valley below. I was reminded of those who try to straddle the fence between the living and the dead. I definitly choose life in my walk and indeed in this case I did not go down and explore the crater. That would have been too much. The view from the top was awesome and I felt like I could see so much of El Salvador. We kept taking pictures along the way but someone commented that the view would be best from the top. I had to think of our Heavenly Father who sits in heaven and can see the whole world. He has the perfect view!
The descent was even more challenging for me than the climb because it was no longer about strength and endurance but about traction and the shoes that I took are on their last leg. Indeed that might have been their last journey. I fell quite a few times and slid many more but thankfully made it down the volcano safely and back to the car. We got to the van just before dark for which I was thankful. Overall it was an awesome journey and I made some new friends too which is always fun. The majority of the group were not Christians as I could tell by their words and actions but I hope that I was able to share a bit of Christ's light with them in our hike.
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