I am lying in my tent on the floor of a church in Nicaragua.
It is March, and I am wearing shorts and a tank top. Begrudgingly. It is warm. It is dark outside. The church is dark. With the sound of geckos on the walls and spiders crawling on the outside of my tent.
Last night around the same time, I was sliding down a volcano on a wooden board.
For our off day, several people from my squad went to Leon, Nicaragua to go ash boarding. We took a truck to Cerra Negra, a cinder volcano and took a 45 minute hike up the volcano on loose rock, cinder, and ash carrying our boards and orange jump suits.
The view was amazing, and we spent time as a group taking pictures together and jumping into the air for those cool silhouette in the sunset photos to put on Facebook to prove how much fun we were having.
It was really windy, and ash was blowing and pelting our legs and getting stuck in our hair. And it was fantastic. It was absolutely surreal to stand on top of the volcano and feel the smoking, hot sand and look around at the sun setting over the mountains and valleys miles and miles away.
Watching the sunset from on top of a volcano, though, means that you have to slide down the volcano in the dark.
At the Bigfoot Hostel there is a sign with the records of fastest ash-boarding times and talking about it really brought out the competitive side of me. But when it came time for my board to take off down the volcano, I was a little hesitant, and I put my feet down to go slower. The fastest time of the day was 57 km/hr, which was accomplished by leaning back with her feet up. Dragging my tennis shoes through the cinder and ash as I rode down on my board gave me with a time of 46 km/hr.
In John 10:10, Jesus says, “…I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
I have been thinking a lot lately about what that means. To have life abundantly.
And living abundantly does not mean standing on top of a pile of ash covering a violent inferno of magma or watching the sunset over the mountains and city of Leon. It does not mean seeing the Pacific Ocean from on top of the “oldest” cinder volcano in the world. Or that you are riding a handmade wooden board down a volcano at 46 km/hr or even 57. Though that could all be part of it.
It does not mean that you carry your belongings in a backpack to 11 countries in 11 months. Or shower with spiders. Or wake up to tarantulas and geckos on the walls. Or that you spend your days chipping away at rock to create a septic pit. Or that you push your tent and belongings to the side in order to lead worship or teach Sunday School or give your testimony to a room full of people. Though that could also be part of it.
Living abundantly does not mean waiting for something great to happen. It does not mean planning ahead and looking forward to finally getting settled into your life. Whenever your “real life” starts.
I believe that have life abundantly is all about living life with your feet up.
That it means that in whatever you are doing, you are doing it all the way, not dragging your feet in hesitation or trying to slow down.
It means not allowing “easy” to be your refuge.
This is real life no matter where you are right now or what you are doing right now. It is real. This counts.
Live life with your feet up.
