September 7th, 2011
It was a cloudy day. We had been planning for weeks to go sand boarding on some of the giant dunes that surround Laredo. As we were crammed into the van, happily making our way to Conache, the town near the sand dunes, the van stopped and there was a conversation had in Spanish that essentially was questioning whether or not we wanted the more adventurous, or less adventurous route. Being World Racers and obviously immune to fear, we chose the more adventurous.
As we started walking, our spirits were high and excitement was in the air. We started hiking over sand dune after sand dune and soon grew tired. With no end in sight, I started to fall behind. I am far from athletic and I knew that this was going to be hard. Soon, everyone was just specks in front of me. Rikki had gone on a little ways ahead of me and I saw her sit down in the rich, golden sand. I told myself if I could just make it to her, I would be okay.
As I collapsed beside her, she handed me half of her orange claiming it would make me feel better. We told the two Peruvian youth that hung behind to go on without us and we settled into the dune. I watched in defeat as everyone else slowly climbed their way up to a ledge that was perfect for sand boarding off of. As my breathing slowed, I became angry with myself that my body wasn’t able to do this. One of my biggest fears in coming on the race was that I would have to be left behind in something like this because of my weight.
I began to have this burning desire to conquer the massive sand dune, to make it all the way to the top, but I knew that Rikki wanted to stay right there so I didn’t say anything. Right about that time, Christian, one of the Peruvian youth, came back and told us that we would not be coming back that way, so we had to at least make it to the base of the mountainous dune to wait for everyone else. We slowly trudged there and set our bags down.
All of a sudden, I decided I was going to up, no matter how long it took me. By this point, the sun was blazing and the heat was scorching. I didn’t have any water, but I knew I had to get to the top. I had to say that I conquered the mountain. So I started up slowly, but confidently with Jenna and about two minutes into the climb, Rikki came running up to the dune and began to climb. We waited for her to catch up with us and continued on as a trio. They soon got ahead of me, but I was not giving up. I was committed. We watched as our teammates flew down the hill on boards and slowly climbed back up. Joshua, a member of the other team we were working with this month, ran down beside people filming their boarding experience.
As he came back up, he came to sit beside me as the other two girls continued on. We talked for a little bit and then decided to continue. I followed in his footsteps most of the way, but it almost made it harder because the sand was loose. It felt as though I were taking three or four steps in the sand to only move the equivalent of one step. There was a point near the top that was so steep, we had to crawl up on our hands and knees. As I reached the ledge where everyone else was, I was greeted with applause and hugs from my loving teammates.
I looked around me and realized that I wasn’t at the top. I knew that I had to keep going, even if no one else went with me. I continued up to the crest of the dune, and smiled with victory as I looked out to the west and could see the ocean. To my left, there were points of the dune that were still higher so I wasn’t at the legit top, but I felt proud of myself for making it even this far. I stayed there a little while, just taking in the fact that I had climbed up a giant of a sand dune, and watching as my teammates continued to disappear over the edge. I looked down and there was a reed stick, just the perfect height to use as a walking stick. I grabbed it and sauntered back down to the group.
As I returned to sit with everyone, Josh came up and mentioned that he was going to climb to the very top to get a 360 degree view. I thought that was awesome for him, and then before I knew it, I was asking him if I could go with. He agreed and we started out. First up to the crest and then left to the higher ground. I brought along my reed, using it every now and again to help myself through the walls of sand.
After about half hour, we made it to the first peak. We realized that there was one other that was still higher, and it was farther than it looked. Committed, I said that we should go for it, so we did. We climbed through rocks, and boulders, and sand for another hour. On the way, we talked about God, we picked up gorgeous colourful rocks, and we commented on the beauty of the little golden flakes we saw in the sand. The whole way, it felt easy in a sense because I could feel God right there with us.
As we came up on the summit, there was a boulder placed perfectly in the center and we both stood up on it. We waved to our teammates who had now been waiting over an hour for us (lo siento..) and we rejoiced in the immense victory we had just accomplished. As I looked out over the diverse creation before and behind me, I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that I may have missed this due to my bad attitude and unbelief in myself, and in God.
I didn’t conquer that mountain on my own. There was no way that I could have done it out of my own strength. I could barely make it through the baby sand dunes at the bottom. Never have I felt more proud of myself, even though it was God that got me there, I just put one foot in front of the other. It was far from easy, and while I stood gazing at His creation, I realized that this mountain/sand dune was parallel to my life on the race. It is the farthest thing from easy that I’ve ever done in my life, and there are mountains higher than any I’ve ever experienced, but somehow, when we make it to the top, the pain and the weariness melt away in the awe of His goodness.
I needed to feel my weakness to understand how much I needed Him. And in my weakness, He stirred up a strength and a fire that conquered the impossible.
