"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness, than in a land flooded with light."
-John Keith Falconer
This is the end of the first month on probably the biggest adventure of my lifetime thus far. When I look back on this past week, the phrase that keeps popping in my head is there is life after death. I am speaking about the life we have after we have a spiritual death…a death that puts to rest all of our past, our mistakes, and our heart of stone. Even though we are walking around in a world of spiritual death, we have been given the opportunity to be vessels of The One who brings life and shines the light into the darkest places of this world.
Every time I wanted to complain about being dirty this week, or how cold it was on top of a massive mountain range, I kept thinking to myself where I could/would be if I did not answer the call of God. I would be in a retail store back home and having no passion for life or the people I come across on a daily basis.
I spent about 30 minutes by myself 2 or days this week just watching the sunset and gazing across, what seemed to be the entire country of the Dominican in one glance. The mountain ranges seemed to be an endless ocean of greens and almost blue hues. They rose up, smashing against each other like angry waves in the midst of a storm but also calm all in the same instance. In no less than 30 minutes, the sun would disappear behind the mountains and a blanket of stars would cover the entire village. How lucky I am to witness so many variations of God’s creation all in the same day…Mountain ranges that he formed with his fingers as if they were made with finger paint. Stars placed like jewels in specific places on a dark silk.
I am also still amazed at the hospitality of the Dominican culture, and especially people who knew why we were traveling to their villages, and did not agree at all with what we were discussing with them. I don’t believe we had one person show any hostility towards us and if they disagreed they simply looked the opposite way of us when we were talking to them. Of course out of respect we would move on to the next house, but deep in my heart all I could pray was that there was a small part of what was said that would sink in and take hold of their hearts. It is hard for me to gaze upon all of creation and the beautiful sites of a country such as this, and think that somebody does not have a small ounce of belief that a HUGE and WONDERFUL God created all of their surroundings.
This has been my prayer this month…that if nothing else..a seed has been planted and when someone wakes up and witnesses a sunrise, or goes to bed and lays under the stars, they have a child like wonder of how they got here. I pray that they also think back to the small intimate conversations we had on their porch, and mold the two thoughts together. I have learned this month that prayer is sometimes all you can do BUT prayer is the most powerful thing you can do as well. Just remember that when you say to someone, all we can do is pray…you realize prayer is HUGE and is a glorious way to show love to your friends, family, and even a stranger in the Dominican Republic.
We are vessels of the One who brings life after death and that is something to be cherished. If you can pray for someone, consider this the highest honor possible. Build each other up in love and joy.
"We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first"
-Oswald J Smith
