Weekend at Manuel Antonio

October 18, 2006

This past weekend I took a trip to a beach and National Park about 3 hours from San Jose with a group of girls from the school. Thankfully the place that we booked for lodging ended up being a nice place. It was a short trip but a good break from being in the city. I loved the National Park where Iguanas darted across the path two feet from you and monkeys fought with each other a stone’s throw away. I did actually get in the ocean too in spite of all of the warnings we received during orientation of riptides, jellyfish, and sting rays. The waves were not in the least bit tranquil but a friend taught me to dive into them instead of ride them out and in the middle of the wave there is a bit more peace. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was sitting on the beach Sunday morning with one of the girls while reading from the Psalms about God’s power and purposes and their greatness in comparison to that of the ocean with its mighty waves and breakers.

Cows at the camp

(From a September weekend)


The humorous story of the weekend -- well, the cows tend to wander wherever they want around the camp and on Sat. morning I went out the back gate to go down to the creek for some time with God. The grass and ground were very wet so I tried to step on rocks in an effort to keep my non-waterproof shoes dry. Well, it just so happened that the one "rock" I stepped on was not a "rock". It was a very fresh cow patty. I was utterly disgusted but was able to wipe my shoe off pretty well since the grass was so wet. I continued on and neared the creek. Once again I used rocks to avoid the mud and water, and yes, once again I misinterpreted what a rock was, this time with the other shoe. I could not believe it. I decided that I was going to cry if I stepped on one more cow patty. I had had better luck in the dark. I decided that their had to be an analogy in this mess. I was reminded (b/c it is a theme in my life right now) that I have to keep my eyes on Jesus to make sure that I am stepping in ways that are solid. Last week my eyes seemed to be on myself and my circumstances and so the week did not go so well. Fortunately the weekend improved after the cow patty incidence.