Brazil- A Mountain-top Experience

Psalm 121:1-3

  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.

 He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber

Wednesday. The middle day of the week that is considered the peak of the mountain or the top of the hill because the rest of the week is all down hill. Ironically enough, Wednesday was the day that we climbed a mountain. 

I actually didn't know that we were going to be climbing a mountain. Perhaps this was because of my disconnected feeling to things that I did not catch it. Paige had told us a few times that we would be going on a hike and I don't think I cared much beyond that. (Hmm.. apathy.. 

tis a dangerous thing to have on a missions trip..) Anyways.. Hike day came and I was much looking forward to the adventure of it all. We met up with some of the older boys of the Lar that lived at a location in the town and we took a bus to the starting point of our great hike.

 

You can't really see the top here because it's in the clouds.

When I saw the mountain I realized why Paige had stressed the need for there to be 2 bottles of water for every person.  It was kind of a beast. Apart from the fact that I do not regularly climb mountains and do not think myself to be made for climbing mountains.. I am quite a bit of an asthmatic as well. Even just sleeping in the hammocks at the Lar was enough to tighten my lungs so that yawning in the morning was impossible with out a lot of pain. Thankfully I had thought ahead enough to bring my inhaler and other medications to Brazil with me. I have not had need for my inhaler during the day time for a long long time.. sometimes in the morning to open my lungs up again. but I generally don't carry it.  On this day, for some odd reason I put my inhaler in my backpack last minute. 1/4 the way up the mountain I realized I was fairly dependent on that little tiny pressurized canister. I hated it. While a lot of people were having the time of their life climbing that mountain, navigating the steep rocks and wet clay.. I was not. 


It was more humiliating than anything else. I hated that my lungs were shutting off and I just couldn't stay at the front of the group like I was supposed to. Thankfully.. I wasn't the only one who had to take it a little slower than the rest of the group. But even going at it a slower pace with a few others.. I kept on thinking "why God? Why did you give me these lungs? Why can't I just keep up with everyone else?" 
I felt like everyone else made climbing mountains look like the easiest most natural thing in the world to them. I hated that to. I just wanted to get to the top of the mountain so that I could be done with it. It was rather difficult to enjoy the lush green plants and beautiful flowers growing on the side of the mountain.  

The half way point.

Climbing

God did some beautiful things on this mountain.

I did not really enjoy the climbing of the mountain. I enjoyed the resting parts of it. And the more we climbed, the more I enjoyed not climbing. 
While climbing, sometimes my foot would slip, or I would stumble. Sometimes it was difficult to find a foothold in the wet clay from the earlier rain. I kept thinking of the Psalms where David would talk about almost slipping or needing a strong foothold.  I've heard a lot of mountain analogies in church and Bible studies and other such places but.. I live in Iowa. The flattest part of Iowa. I grew up where you can stand on a roof and see 3 or 4 towns in a 20 mile radius. Flat flat flat. I was finally understanding what David was meaning when he said that he needed God to keep his feet from slipping. I was finally understanding the significance of the mountains we face in our own lives. Mountains are not easy to climb. Mountains can be dangerous.. if you fall when you're climbing a mountain.. may God have mercy you.. and pity the man who falls and has no one to pick him up. 


Anyways.. those 2 bottles of water were like drops of heaven while making the climb. In fact.. I think I ended up drinking closer to 8 or 9 bottles while going up the thing. I have never in my life consumed so much water in one morning.... but it seemed to help the dizziness.  Annnnyways.. after a little more than 2 hours of climb climb climbing the mountain and being tired and sweaty and gross we reached the almost top. It wasn't THEE top.. but it was up there. And there at the top was a beautiful lake and a place of rest.  

The Lake at the top where we swam and rested and ate lunch.

We had a devotional time at the top. 

After that time of rest and renewal of energy, we went continued up to the very top of the mountain to the highest point in the state where we could see the city and the ocean and.. just everything. 

sitting on a rock at the top of the mountain. 

The team at the top. 

And it was all down hill from there.  It was great being at the top. Breath taking and amazing... and it was even more exciting because it takes a lot less energy getting down a mountain then up one. But! It's easy to slip when coming down the mountain. Coming down we had to be careful to pick our path so that we did not roll an ankle or fall head long onto the rocks.  

To be honest.. i was glad when the mountain was over and I was glad when wednesday was over. I was on day closer to going home and I had gotten past the most strenuous part of the trip. Looking back now, though, I can see a lot of Biblical analogies. Everything about the mountain can be taken as a lesson in everyday life.