Kathmandu, Nepal
I wasn’t aware that seeing the top of the world could literally bring me to near tears.
We woke up with the sun at 5 am, squished 5 of us in a little white Suzuki hatchback taxi and headed to the airport. Some of us were so excited we could hardly sleep the night before. We dutifully paid the surprise 170 rupee airport tax and divvied out the tickets. After three security pat downs, we eagerly boarded the shuttle that transported us to the puddle jumper that would fly us around the peak of Mount Everest.
As the plane approached the runway, my heart pumped full of adrenaline. I could’t believe this was about to happen. I was about to see the highest place on planet earth…the top of the world.
My eyes were superglued to the window overlooking the endless sea of mountains. Snowcapped peaks filled the sky above the clouds. I held back the urge to burst out into singing Disney’s A Whole New World, “A new fantastic point of view…A dazzling place I never knew…Unbelievable sights, Indescribable feeling.” I am fully convinced that the only hands that have ever touched some of these peaks were the hands of God. The endless beauty that sprawled accross the sky left me speecless. My eyes began to well up with tears. I believe that God created this not only for us to enjoy, but to fill out hearts with the wonder of it all. The pictures hardly do it justice. I just kept thinking about His majesty…His greatness…His marvelous creation. I felt humbled that the same Creator who created the heavens and the earth and all of this breathtaking beauty created me.
But the thing that gets me the most is the lack of ackowledgement from most of the people in that nation that this is all God’s creation. Nepal is a place where only about 0.5% of the population believes in Christianity…that there is just one God who created this earth and everything in it. Isn’t it obvious when they look out their windows in the morning that this didn’t just happen by chance?
“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20
This is my prayer for this nation. That the hearts of the people here would begin to be filled with that wonder that perhaps threre is something more…something that can answer their questions about the purpose of life…something that is so close and so undeniably real.
“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him-though he is not far from each one of us.” Acts 17:26-27
Mount Everest: 8,848 meters (29,029 feet)
