I walked on water last weekend, but I’ll get to that in a little bit.
Before walking on water, I found myself sitting on a bus ride thinking, “This is how I’m going to die.”
7 of my squad mates-myself included- rented a private bus for super cheap and took off on a 6 hour bus ride through the mountains as soon as our ministry was over on Friday; we were headed to Pokhara. On the way there, our bus driver started picking up speed as we maneuvered our way through the dark, narrow, ever winedy (just found out this isn’t a real word) road. As we swerved past other vehicles, just narrowly missing the opportunity to knock them off road and down the mountain side, we asked our bus driver to slow down.
His response? “No no, we are late.”
Our response, “Late for what?? We are NOT on a time crunch. Our hostel is booked, and we can arrive whenever.”
This did not change our bus driver’s speed though; we may not have been on a time crunch, but it was evident that he was on some sort of time crunch (we are fairly certain he was using our ride as a cover for a drug deal with “tomatoes”; apparently tomatoes can’t be found in Pokhara).
So as we went barreling down the road at 120 kilometers/hr I had a thought- well a separate thought from, “This is how I’m going to die”- I thought, “I can either cower down in my seatbeltless seat, or I can fully embrace this.”
So while Kyle egged on the driver, Chris asked Kyle to stop the egging on, Ashly laughed nervously, Graham laughed a little less nervously, Tina sat in silence, and Kristen pleaded with our bus driver to slow down, I laughed with reckless abandon at the feeling of speeding down a winedy mountain road; I figured I may as well enjoy what may very well be my last moments on Earth.
I’m sure it would have been a site to behold had any onlookers been fortunate enough to watch from the safety of their own homes; I personally found a lot of joy in that moment along with many other small moments throughout the weekend..
Those moments made the risk of the ride there well worth it. Once there, we trekked to a small village called Dhampus.
On the trek up, I met a woman in a sari who didn’t speak any English. She showed me how to scavenge for edible nuts along the trail up. I thanked her then kept trekking.
Then I met an older couple who let me help them work in their rice fields for a brief moment; the woman showed me her family photos before I continued on with my group up the mountain.
And finally, a few of us stopped at a goat farm. We didn’t buy any of their products, but they did invite us to have tea with them. So we stayed for 1 hour and 2 cups of tea.
All in all, it was one of the most refreshing hikes I have ever been on in all my hiking adventures.
Once there, we rented a hostel and stayed the night in Dhampus. We spent our evening in a restaurant with our new friend, Shankar. He makes a living giving massages to all the Trekkers who come through, but he took the evening off to spend time with us showing us all the card tricks he had learned from the people passing through. The tricks were fantastic! I’ll practice some of them for you all : ).
We got up early for probably the best sunrise I have ever seen. Then I had coffee with Shankar and his friend, Krish, in the morning. After coffee and breakfast, we checked out of the hostel-$1.50 per person- and trekked down.
But the trip wasn’t over yet! We trekked down early so we could go paragliding!! You guys, I flew off a mountain this weekend!
No words to describe that feeling really.
My paraglide guide was great fun. He did tricks; at one point we were spinning with the parachute below us. Not really sure how that works.
I enjoyed conversation with my guide, and he gave me a book he had finished reading: Interview With A Vampire. Can’t wait to read it! He called it a masterpiece.
The best part of the ride though was at the very end when he asked me, “Do you want to walk on water?”
Without any hesitation I answered, “YES!” Then a short moment later I asked, “How?”
Our landing strip was right next to a lake, so he pushed me forward in my seat and told me he would take us just above the water so I could do something I’ve only ever read about in the Bible.
Unfortunately, we had to pull up last minute so we wouldn’t crash, but I was legitimately only an inch, maybe 2, away from walking on water- so I’ll take it!
We headed home after this excitement. Our bus ride back was much less eventful than the one there- we played on a swing, danced with locals, and bought bananas at our 3 different pit stops.
I share all of this 1) because it’s awesome, and 2) because I believe God wants us to enjoy His creation-His gifts-and He wants us to enjoy them with Him.
I mean can you imagine a father buying his daughter a doll house and she never plays with it, or at the very least admires it just sitting in her room?
Or can you imagine a father inviting his daughter out for a Saturday afternoon boat ride for some good ole father daughter bonding, but she refuses the invite because her work and life schedule cannot be interrupted?
No! Enjoy the gifts your Father lays before you. No gift is too small, or too large for that matter, to not enjoy, appreciate, and dive into whole heartedly.
Life is a gift, and you don’t receive a gift but never unwrap it. Seriously guys, Christmas isn’t every day, and you don’t wait until New Years Eve to open your Christmas present or rummage through the little treasures stuffed inside your stocking. No! You tear through that crap as soon as you get a chance!
Treat life the same way you treat your Christmas gifts, and look for God the same way you look for Santa- with eager anticipation.
Christmas may not be every day, but life IS.
And the gifts are in the little things like sharing tea with a goat farmer or the big things like walking on water. Either way, we have to choose to see them, choose to unwrap them.
Yes I’m here to do mission work, but I’m also here to learn more about God’s character, and like I said before, I believe God wants us to enjoy His creation-His gifts-and He wants us to enjoy them with Him.
Proverbs 8:30-31 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.
