Driving through an Elephant Reserve on the coast of Mozambique is like riding a roller coaster blind, with only the sweaty arms of the people around you keeping your head from knocking into the roof and your knees into the seat and yet you still end up with bruises all over. Branches snap through windows, insects fly in and get stuck on the ceiling, the engine roars, the shocks take a beating and somehow this makes the all boys fall asleep.
(This is me holding a partial pull-up and leaning out the side window eating sand like Eliza Thornberry. Believe it or not, this was the most comfortable position and was the definition of fun.)
For hours the scenery looked like the Windows screensaver except there were huge bugs everywhere and strange little animals that scampered off the road as we drove. We clattered up and down hills and past beautiful pelicans and birds that refused to pose for pictures and wondered where on Earth this beach was.
Having recognized my presence in America as a dead end, God told me the time was right to apply. So I did, then I went to Training Camp fully unprepared and keeping my vision small. I focused on the people and the places and the things, when God actually wanted to give me Himself. About a week into camp I asked God where he wanted to lead me. He held out his hand to me and stepped through a door frame onto the most beautiful beach I had ever seen, more picturesque than anything I have seen in Hawaii or Southern California or the Mediterranean or any movie. I considered that it could be symbolic but deep down I knew it wasn’t. I attempted to accept His promise at face value and spent the next three months following his voice deeper into dependence on Him.
Suddenly, we turned the corner and I was there. It was the beach He had shown me months earlier.
We wove past a few empty camping sites (where I could happily live indefinitely) and then parked under a huge tree near a sign proclaiming the beach entrance, changed into shorts and escaped from the car.
And then we ran. Past the Jurassic park jungle, over the empty white sand and into the crystal clear blue sea. We swam in the waves, asking Him for bigger ones or smaller ones and floating effortlessly in the salt water. We crawled up sand dunes and rolled back down them before leaping into the sea. After living in tight community all month with 7 other racers and over 20 residents at our ministry site, we were suddenly the only people around. It’s difficult to describe the beauty of this beach – just like the pictures will never do the moment justice. With sharp cliffs on one side, dunes on the other, and the jungle behind, our gifted glimpse of heaven stretched out in front of us.
As the waves crashed around me and the sun trickled down, I saw an image of God laughing and could feel Him playing with us. He has brought each of us through so many adversities, so much pain and so much growth until here we were – living in a present promise with our sweet Lord. I worshiped His goodness in the waves and I thought about everything that it had taken for Him to get me here. Tears of salt water and an overflowing heart stung my eyes as I dove into wave after wave of forgiveness, redemption, joyfulness, gratitude and the wonder of being fully known.
I’ll never know if God thought about me or Team Manna when He created this hidden paradise but He knew that it would support that day of intimacy with Him and establish a lifelong memory for all of us. Although surrendering my life’s decisions to Him had been a years-long struggle, it put me back on the path that led me closer to His heart and into this realization of His many beautiful promises to me!
After the kind of lunch that satisfies the spirit in the way only a post-swimming meal can, we changed into dry(ish) clothes and hopped back in the cramped car. On the way back to the gate, the ferry, the city and then our host, we saw more hippos and an entire herd of Elephants. We climbed out to take pictures but they saw us too and reclaimed some space as w e jumped in the car and shot away maybe 500m, but then they paraded by us.
Please excuse image quality.
We saw Zebras and Wildebeests and were again encouraged to get as close as we wanted because they’d move away from us before we could disturb anything. We passed groups of impalas and I saw a monkey scamper up a tree. God takes care of ALL His creation.
After more driving with my head hitting the roof, my knees bruised on the seat, my arms aching and my smile unfading. Just before we exited the reserve, one more elephant suddenly appeared right next to the road, just eating and relaxing before he turned and disappeared into the brush.
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover up my iniquity. I said ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalms 32:5. I am no longer a slave to my mistakes or concerned with my past. I no longer have any doubt that God wants to bring all of us into the paradise of life with and in Him.
He promised me I would fall away, promised me the race, promised me joy, promised me a beach he would lead me to, now I have to start asking for bigger promises.
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” John 15:7.
