I aint afraid of no anacondas I told myself. I have seen Crocodile Hunter (every man’s hero) and all those other crazy nature guys, so as I said, I aint afraid of no anacondas. I remember a picture, in my Guinness Book of World Records, of the world’s largest snake being held by something like 15 guys. I think this snake was 30 feet long. Like I said, I aint afraid of no anacondas.
Josh and I had been planning on getting some guys time with whatever guys were with us, since we heard our teams were working together, we had planned that we would find some time for the guys to fast and pray someplace remote. We were hoping for 5 days, we figured we would fast from everything except Red Bulls, which are only 10 baht or 30 cents here, and water. We would spend the time really praying and searching for God. I think Gary likes to tell about a guy who discipled his sons by putting them alone by a river for 40 days to fast. Something crazy like that, I think the guys name was St. Patrick. Maybe they fasted from everything except green beer. That is a fast I might try someday, just Guinness for a week….
(As I type, men drive a herd of tame water buffalo past me, with bells hanging from the buffalos necks.)
As Linnea and I stayed in Bangkok to work on the book, Josh had told Ray, our contact, about our wish to find some time to get away and pray as guys. The five days turned into a chance at having 1 night, but that was cool. Ray said there was a cool spot we could go to near a river and a cave. Hey sounds good, and anyway, a fast always sounds less appealing as it nears.
Then Ray said that we might not be able to go to the cave, because apparently a bunch of anacondas have taken residence there, but we decided to go anyway.
We hopped in the back of the pickup truck for the ride down the muddy roads, and we pulled in front of a village. This village has a church, and this church was one of the churches that our contact pastor is involved with, but an issue of money has fueled a feud here and this pastor and his wife have not been welcome for a while. I guess it is good to know that family dysfunction happens everywhere, and the cause of this family feud is the same cause of so many church squabbles. People are people everywhere.
We checked out the church, and then we started our hike. I had no idea this hike would be so strenuous. Ray made it sound like it was a simple walk in the woods. We headed down a mountain, and eventually slowed to a crawl as we tried not to slide in the slimy clay, tried not to slide right off the six inch wide path. Sharp razor bushes lined the path, and as we slipped, we would instinctively grab hold of these sharp branches. Our legs would be brushed by these vines and my legs felt like they were on fire. Eventually we made our way down to the flat rice paddies.
As we walked along the edges of the paddies, balancing on the top of mud levees like balance beams, I thought about what Vietnam must have been like. I really don’t think I would have made a very good soldier at all, and I wondered what it would be like to be worried about mines or enemy abushes as I tried to avoid getting my Hi-Tecs wet and I tried to avoid sharp plants, whining the whole time in the sun. At one point my foot slipped and I had to repair the levee as water began rushing out of the paddie. We came to the river, and the path along the river was so full of sharp plants, that I decided I would rather just get my sneakers soaked, and I joined all the sandal wearers as they walked in the river.
After almost 2 hours of hiking we came to a little bamboo shelter, this would the home Rusty, Ryan, Josh, and I would share for the night. We climbed up and checked for scorpions and anaconda, it was clear and we settled our stuff down and rested for a few minutes before heading to the cave.
The cave was almost another quarter mile down this river, and as the water got deeper, I started to remind myself that I aint afraid of no anacondas.
We climbed over some log jams and across some small water falls, then around a bend and before our eyes gaped a huge opening. I am not sure what I pictured this cave to be, but I think I was expecting something more like the cave in Mexico. I was expecting something just big enough to drive a pickup truck into, or a rock overhang like the cave in South Africa. This cave was, uh, cavernous. Like an outdoor natural cathedral or amphitheater and the river ran straight into it, causing a deafening roar. There was all kinds of places for anaconda to hang out, but I aint afraid of no anaconda.
I have to admit, I felt some dread in my heart as I approached the entrance to this cave. It was cool and full of shadows, wet and slippery, and the musty smell filled my nostrils, reminding me of memories I can’t seem to recall.
I had not brought my headlamp, so I went in a little way, but did not go too far. Then the Thai man with us took his flashlight out and Ryan, who had his headlamp, followed him deep inside. After a little while they returned and Ryan said they had gone all the way through and returned and it was cool, so Josh took his light and Ray took the other light, and I stayed in the middle and we waded into water that was silty and white and dark. At times the river came up to our waists and bats at least 12 inches from tip to tip would dive through the beams of light, flashing brown and disappearing.
At times, I could not see where I was going, and could only trust my hands and feet for one more step and this is when I thought about the spiritual life and how scary walking in faith is, and how God has not given me a spirit of fear but of courage and I heard Josh praying because the current was strong, spiders hide in the shadows of the wall, bats were squeaking and bombing us, and the anacondas were behind the next corner.
I jumped as something bumped my leg, and my heart sped up….
I know from watching the crazy nature guys on TV that anacondas move by swimming in the rivers, but I was pretty sure that they dropped on their prey from above, so quickly I realized it was just a stick bumping my leg. Without a light, I was trusting that Ray and Josh were staying sharp, checking out all the cracks above us, and every time we looked up, the light would stir another colony of bats.
We walked through the cave and back again, and as the light of the entrance blinded us, we had faced some fears, done something new, and we were heading to the bamboo shelter where the four of us would spend the night talking, reading our bibles and praying.
The next morning we had a grueling hike up a mountain and along the roads. We were supposed to be met by a contact, who never showed up, and we walked for 3 hours. Then we had to quickly get ready for church and sing and dance.
This was a good adventure…a good time of male bonding, of brothers strengthening each other the way I think God planned it from the beginning.
