This past weekend I celebrated my 19th birthday in Guatemala surrounded by my brothers and sisters of T squad. I am deeply grateful for their hearts and desire to celebrate others; it was truly so sweet.
One of the ways we celebrated included going to the beach for the weekend. About 16 of us packed into a bus and embarked on a 4 hour bus ride to a surf camp on the Guatemalan coast. Needless to say, it was a weekend full of refreshment, laughter, peanut butter and jelly, and a whole lot of gratitude for my past year and the time to come. I love these people a whole lot.
On Saturday night, after a day of swimming and resting and the best meal of my life (chicken, guac, rice, coke), we got to experience an incredible thunder and lightning storm. Alyssa and I prayed it wouldn’t start raining until we finished setting up our tents, and as we rushed to connect the poles and put on the rain fly, thankfully we stayed dry. I had some training camp flashbacks as everyone rushed to put the tents up before it poured.
When it started storming, we all gathered under a little hut on the beach to stay dry and watch God’s glory unfold in the form of a lightning storm. Every few seconds, lightning struck and lit up the entire horizon in deep purples and electric blues. There was a collective gasp of awe pretty much every time. Eventually, Mady, Abbey, Alyssa and I were the only ones left under the hut and we discussed our favorite parts of the ocean and soaked in the beauty. We listened to the song “Gracious Tempest”, which perfectly describes the storm.
In the morning, some of us woke up at 4:30 AM and over the course of the next hour, the whole group trickled onto a spot on the beach. It was something truly wild to watch the sky light up as the sun rose. The water of the ocean turned a bunch of different shades of blue, the surrounding sky in the back was scattered with light pink clouds, and it appeared on fire for a long time. Such an incredible display of the heart of the Father for us and His deep desire to place joy in our hearts.
He has this intense longing to bring our hearts into union with His, and I’ve experienced it in so many different ways the past few weeks. In this season I’m growing in intimacy with the Father, and the gift of deeply knowing part of His character through nature is so good.
On Sunday night we returned, sand in our hair and a little sunburnt, to a warm welcome from the rest of the squad. The reunion felt as if we hadn’t seen each other in months, when in reality it had only been a couple of days. There’s something truly special about the community here. The reunion after a month apart in Malaysia is gonna be something wild.
On Monday morning I wrote a poem describing how I felt the Trinity planned the sunrise we witnessed on the beach.
conversations with the Trinity: sunrise
He asks the Father, “what colors should we paint this morning?”
“oh, Son, let’s really stir the hearts of our people. I love to see them smile.”
the Spirit chimes in, “I have some new shades of rose I’ve been wanting to try; they’ll be so awestruck they cannot speak.”
and they go to work. find joy in it.
after all, an explosion of glory is the best way to start any day.
the Son decides the event will begin in peachy yellow, then draws in hundreds of hues: magenta, lilac, the color of the ocean.
stirs them together into a radiant chaos.
the Spirit weaves clouds galore: monstrous fluffy ones, thin arrows that taper off, and speckled circles resembling cotton candy.
the Father dreams the sky will appear on fire in orange rays, and fade into something wildly delicate; a deep morning blue.
the three reconvene and share Their ideas, each better than the last.
excitement is tangible in the throne room as final details fall into place.
speckles of gold
pastels surrounding tree sillouhettes
glimpses of heaven declaring praise in the sky canvas
the hearts of the Trinity race.
faster.
faster.
they love to romance their people.
eventually, the Son clears His throat, saying, “It’s time for the sun to rise”, then promptly stands up.
this joke gets them every time.
they all rise.
“I hope the people see us in the sky today.”
“don’t worry, they always do.”
“it will be something magnificent.”
and it is.
