This week for my team’s day off, we chose to travel to a part of Nicaragua about 4 hours away to experience some awesome not-your-average-trip opportunities. The first: surfing at the beach! For $5, we rented surfboards for the day and without any explanation whatsoever of how to tackle the waves with our boards, we ran into the water and gave it a go.
It was exhausting! I had the largest board, because they said it would be the easiest to balance on. The only problem: it was so big I could hardly get it out to the waves big enough to surf on. Over and over again the waves crashed against me and drove me back towards the shore, toppling my board and whipping it around while I tried to protect my head from getting smacked by the board by the force of the big waves.
I left that day with a few bumps and bruises as proof of my struggle against the waves and my board, but looking back I would still choose to repeat that experience. That’s kind of like life. There are days when we feel beat up, when absolutely all of our energy is exhausted just trying to stay above water and catch a breath of air. But when we look back on those same days, we see that those are moments we will never forget; moments we learned a great deal; and moments we had to depend on the Lord for strength (there were multiple times I had to pray for patience or I would have given up the idea of surfing in frustration!) Even the hard moments of life are an important part of the journey.
Surfing, Take two:
Day two of our trip we went “surfing” again…but this time it was down the side of a volcano! After finding a tour group to go with and a long ride through the peanut fields, we arrived at Cerro Negro, the only volcano in Central America that you can sled or surf down. Just seeing how massive this volcano was (745 meters) up close was quite a sight, and seeing it next to the bright green mountains all around was a beautiful sight.
The volcano was huge and pure black dried lava rocks that made the sound of crunching ice as we hiked over them. It took us about forty-five minutes to hike up to the top, loaded down with backpacks containing suits that would protect us from the ash and rock as well as the boards we would sled down on. It was hot! And the 45 degree incline that would serve as part of the fun on the way down the volcano made the trek up it that much more difficult as the lava rocks slipped and slid from under our feet with each step.
At the top, the view took my breath away. 360 degrees of mountainous landscape, green fields, black volcanoes, big blue clouds, and even a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. In contrast to the previous day’s struggle, today’s was rewarded with an awesome mountain-top experience, literally!
After suiting up in our protective clothing, we climbed onto our boards and slid down. It was so steep you couldn’t really see over the drops and just had to trust that there were still rocks there to slide on. I chose to keep my pace fairly slow (using my feet as breaks) and take in the beauty of the view. I just kept thinking two things to myself: #1) how beautiful God’s creation is! and #2) Is this really my life right now?! God has put me in some awesome situations and blessed me in so many ways. Like surfing, which I was never successful in, not every day of this journey comes with a reward. Sometimes, it’s just a lot of struggle and salty water thrown in your eyes and mouth. And like hiking and sliding down a volcano, some tasks are not easy and can be a little scary. But the beauty of the experience and the things I have learned in the process reveal to me that the Lord is faithful and is with me every step (or slide) of the way.
