The mountain roads in Swaziland are no joke.
Our first introduction to them was the night we arrived at El Shaddai. The whole squad was split between two busses, with our heavy bags in trailers attached to the backs. As we crept to a vertical position on the bumpy dirt road, our headlights only illuminating the darkness a few yards in front of us, my old fear of driving up hills resurfaced. After a childhood incident of being stuck in a car rolling backwards down a hill (that was thankfully stopped quickly), visions of hurtling backwards and crashing haunt me whenever I'm in a situation like this. As the vans rocked back and forth, gunning the engines to make it up the steep inclines, I prayed for peace over my lack of control, and safety as we made our way towards El Shaddai. "Just one more hill, Lord!" I prayed as we encountered each one.
A few days later, on the way back from town after one of our biweekly grocery shopping trips, the hills seemed more daunting in the light of day. I could see exactly how steep each one was, and how potholed and treacherous (although I was assured they are far more treacherous in the rainy season). Again, as the engine strained to help us defy gravity, I prayed at each hill, "Just one more hill, Lord!"
As the month went on, I made countless trips to town and back. Each time, I stopped seeing the hills in front of me as enormous, dangerous obstacles and began looking forward to summiting each one. At the tops of the hills were the most amazing views of the mountains surrounding us! When our entire squad took our buddies from the orphanage to town for a day, I even laughed a little at some of my squadmates' nervous faces on the way up those hills. I assured them that we would make it up each one and safely back to our home.
I've realized a lot can be learned from these hills. Everyone knows that we go through tough times and obstacles in our way. Struggling is part of being human. There are only three guarantees for everyone in this life. One: we'll all die one day. Two: we'll all struggle on our way there. We'll fail, we'll fall, we'll doubt. We'll experience sadness, anger, despair, hurt, betrayal. We'll all face our own steep hills and treacherous roads. Things will look bleak. We'll have visions of hurtling backwards as we creep ever upwards, hoping to reach a place of safety.
But that third guarantee? God loves us. He fights for us. He wants to provide for us a way of safety. When we're Christ-followers, we have someone right there with us on those hills, making sure we reach the top. Summiting is never easy, but with God there with us, fighting for us and guiding us, it's not a monumental obstacle. Instead we can focus on what's going on around us. As we face our hills, we can rest in the knowledge that we will make it. We will arrive to a place of safety. All we have to do is set our sights on the summit and say, "Just one more hill, Lord!"
