We often times pray for many things that we “may” or “may not” get answered. It seems that after fasting and praying and climbing all through the Word, that I have extreme favor with Jesus right now. God has been answering many prayers for me. From simply asking for good weather to protecting us from things that could harm us.
Thats where my story begins. We started out hiking into thick jungle the other day. The weather was perfect. Blue skies and some clouds. We are in the rainy season now so the trail was extremely muddy. Our hike was about 2 hours descending into a river. Once we made it down to the river, we followed it through rice patties, razor weed, and more thick bush. We were in our chacos and shorts. So, our legs were getting destroyed by the razor weed. Our destination was a little bamboo shack where Scott, Rusty, Ryan, and I would stay the night. 2 hours into thick Thai jungle, no tents, just our sleeping pads and a blanket. Let me remind you we were staying in a bamboo shack:
there she is…..our lair that would protect us from snakes, spiders, and anacondas. WHAT!!?? ANACONDAS?
I forgot to tell you that right up the river was a huge cave:
The rice farmer that usually sleeps in the shack just saw 3 anacondas a week prior.
Now let me bring you all up to speed. Do you know what an Anaconda is? When I think of Anaconda, I think of this:
Thats probably what you had in mind too. If not, you need to watch more movies! Hahahha!
Here is a little better angle of what was in the cave:
So, now that we are all on the same page here. I will continue the story.
The river was about knee deep and it flowed right into this huge, pitch black cave. Now any guy is gonna have a sense of curiosity or need to find out whats really in there. So, Scott and I grabbed a flash light and prayed: Lord, please protect us from anything that might be in this cave. Allow us to enjoy this massive creation that you have made for us to explore on this very day. Protect us from any injuries. AMEN!
One more Anaconda nugget: They usually attack their prey by falling on them. (There were many ledges above us all the way through the cave.) They are extremely fast in the water.(we were in knee deep water all the way through the cave)
We grabbed our light and headed in! I knew God would protect us, but i would be lying if i said I wasnt thinking of this the whole time:
It was about 1/4 mile all the way to the other side. It didnt take long to be consumed by total darkness. We would shine our light up and see bats with a 1 foot wing span. Pretty big. We even turned the lights all the way off once. It was like God was just loving on us in that cave. He had made it just for Scott and I. IOnce we made it to the other side, we enjoyed it and then prayed again. ” God, thank you so much for protecting us through the cave and allowing us to just stand in your creation but we have to make it back. Please protect us on the way back as well. AMEN.” We made it back safe and sound. God loved on us like never before that day. The four of us sat on the porch of that shack all night. Praying, reading the Word, singing, and just being brothers to one another. God spoke to us all that night. We all walked away the next morning knowing we were His beloved Sons.
Thank you Jesus for going to the ends of the Earth to bring back scum of the earth like ourselves. You saw potential in us. And now when we glorify you, even more glory gets lifted in your name. I love you and I thank you for you grace and patience on me.
As Iron sharpens iron
Josh-ua
