Have you ever met someone who lives a life that is just so astounding and extraordinary that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that God has a tight grasp on him or her? The stories they tell you and the impossible actions you see them perform can only have a supernatural explanation. Well, this is how I would explain my ministry contact in Bolivia; a 75-year-old southern man named Jack.
Our expedition started out on a Tuesday afternoon. We got together some bread and candy bars for the hike Jack had been planning for us since before we arrived. We would be backpacking 2,000 feet up Mount Susse through the thick Bolivian jungle and camping out on top of the mountain.
After we loaded up our packs with tents, sleeping bags, pillows, snacks and any other essentials we would need, we filed onto two Piki-Piki’s (carved out canoes), and started our journey up the Beni River.
As we pulled up to our “starting point” destination, what we saw instead was a massive rock face. I was thinking as the boat pulled in, “Okay Jack, are you thinking we’re gonna get out some gear and scale this wall?” “Is this the wrong stop? Or what’s going on here…”
But we got out of our boat, grabbed our packs, found a rugged, mossy path and started on our journey up the mountain.
The only way I can think to describe our hike is aimlessly wandering in a vertical motion. To say there was no path would be an understatement. If you looked in front of you all you would see was trees, bushes, large, moss-covered rocks and nothing to distinguish which way to go. We had no machete to clear the path and were constantly pushing trees out of our way, crawling on our knees, sliding on our butts or climbing vines.
About every ten steps my backpack would get caught on a low hanging tree limb, and the dirt and twigs would fall off that limb, down the back of my neck and into my shirt. As we continued walking, I would feel those dirt crumbs work their way down my shirt, and by time we reached the top of the mountain at night, I had collected a forest in the bottom of my underwear.
As we worked our way up the mountain, we were constantly tripping or sliding off rocks and wanting to grab onto trees for security—the only problem was that about 40% of the trees had large jagged spikes sticking out of them, and the other 45% had some kind of stinging ant or bug crawling all over it, including some ants that were the size of your thumb, and that is not an exaggeration. I was constantly sweating, and praying that we would experience nothing that would bring us harm (snakes, jaguars, etc.)
God carried us in the palm of His hand up that mountain, and not only did we not see anything intimidating, but aside from a few scraps and bruises, we all made it up to the top in one piece.
We never actually reached the destination Jack had planned for us, but when it got dark we decided to set up camp on the top of Mount Susse.
For the first time all day, we reached a stretch of land that could somewhat be described as a “hiking trail”, which was coincidentally the same space Jack chose as a “great place” to set up camp.
We built our tent in the dark on the trail underneath some tree branches. The tent just barely fit and I had to use my pocketknife to cut some twigs and brush out of the way, but it was a cozy little spot for my teammate Lauren and I to camp.
For dinner, Jack offered us dry oatmeal in our hands with brown sugar sprinkled on top. We sat on the mountain, staring out over the beautiful illuminated town of Rurre and the ranges of mountains surrounding it and admired the outstanding amount of stars above, more than I have ever seen in my life. We laughed and told stories and sang/listened to worship music in both Spanish and English.
We woke up in the morning to the beautiful, thick fog rolling in over the mountains—it felt like I was standing above the clouds. We packed up and set off on our way back down the mountain.
These two days were some of the most physically and emotionally challenging of my trip thus far. They were also some of the most rewarding. To list some of the things that could have gone wrong would take forever, which only reaffirms my confidence in the fact that we didn’t climb up that mountain, we were carried up it by the one who set that expedition up for us long before it was a thought in Jack’s mind.
More than a testimony of triumph and perseverance, this story is a testimony of the power that is placed inside of each of us by our Lord and how it comes bursting through whenever we put out faith in Him. And when I think about true, genuine faith, I can’t help but think of my new friend Jack.
A man who led a group of young adults on an almost vertical backpacking hike up a mountain in his Sunday dress shoes.
A man who got bit by a giant, stinging ant on the way up the mountain, sat down, sucked out the poison with his “Extractor” (some suction device he conveniently had with him), and then got up and continued walking without a complaint.
My friend Jack, who before the expedition, suggested that we tie some Bolsa logs together (floating trees) and use them as a raft to ride on with our packs and paddle upstream as transportation BEFORE we hiked 3 hours up a mountain.
My friend who dove BLINDLY into a pile of bushes (that could have EASILY dropped straight off the cliff) to find his bag that one of the boys had tossed down the mountain, and without context of where to look and just a simple prayer, crawled through the bushes right to it and popped up with his bag and a big grin on his face.
75-year-old Jack, who went ahead of the group to swim up the river 200 yards in his clothes in order to flag down a Piki-Piki, and said his only salvation that kept him from drowning was the 2-Liter pop bottle he floated on.
When I tell you about my friend, you may want to use words like crazy, insane and ridiculous… and that’s fine, I would probably describe him as those things too at times. But along with those words, I dare you not to use words like miraculous, blind faith, power of Christ, and other supernatural terms to describe how this 75-year-old man is who he is and HOW he is every day.
God had Jack in the tight palm of His hand, just like he has you and me in the palm of His hand as well. Now, I’m not saying we all need to hike for hours up dangerous mountains or attempt to float upstream fast moving waters on Coca-Cola bottles. But what I am saying is that if an ordinary man, and one of Jack’s age and physical condition can do miraculous things like this, than why can’t we. What does he have that we don’t?
What Jack has is faith: a faith that casts out all fear; a faith that can overcome anything and a faith that can move mountains.
Tell me, what could you do with that kind of faith? What amazing adventures and opportunities does the Lord have in store for you, if you will only take that leap of faith? What kind of astounding, extraordinary stories would you live?
So what’s stopping you? What stands in the way between you and that type of fearless faith? Between you and the extraordinary? Whatever that may be: whatever obstacle, whatever wall, whatever lie that is holding you back, I encourage you to dig deep and find what that is. And then, once you discover it, ask God to bust through that wall—to break it down, because what waits for you on the other side, is a life that is extraordinary.
