A Glimpse
We live on a volcano. Don’t worry. It’s sleeping. The last eruption is estimated to be in 6050 BC, ± 1000 years! I think we’re safe. (And yes, it’s monitored!)
We took some family visiting us to hike the trails inside Braulio Carrillo National Park, where the Barva volcano is located.
The adventure started way before the hike. It’s only about eight miles from where we live, but it takes the better part of an hour to drive there. In addition to the elevation gain of about 3500 feet amidst numerous hairpin turns, the last section is…what most call a “road” that only 4x4s should travel. But we have made the trek about four times with our 15-passenger, 2-wheel drive Toyota Hiace van. We call him Ferdinand, the bull!
The closer you get to the park’s entrance, the more otherworldly our surroundings feel. At 8500 feet, a whole different class of plants and trees thrive. Moss covers many trees, brightly colored plants lushly cover the sides of the roads, and frequent mist dances in the sunlight through the trees. You have to see it for yourself!
With our lunch in tow, we began the trail. We explored God’s amazing world with eight kids, ages five to sixteen. It’s so fun how the creation reveals its Creator! His nature reveals His Nature.
We were amazed by both the miniature and the magnified! Tiny, intricate, colorful plants surrounded by the hugest fern-trees and leaves that stretched several feet across.
After crossing the Continental Divide, we finally arrived at the crater, which is a lake. A local was drying off after a quick dip in the frigid water.
We tried to imagine what it would’ve been like thousands of years earlier, standing at the crater’s edge. Then we hiked up to the lookout at the top of the volcano’s rim, where we would enjoy our lunch.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Volcanos in Costa Rica are notorious for two kinds of views - clear and spectacular or completely cloudy.
I took these pictures from the same spot just minutes apart.
My favorite thing to see was what I imagined to be a sliver of mountain behind the distant clouds. It gave context to what I was seeing. It was a glimpse into a grander world.
At that moment, my heart wandered to the upcoming Easter weekend service. We sing, we celebrate, we remember, we anticipate! But it’s just a glimpse into eternal celebration in heaven that we’ll have before the LORD.
Every moment of worship is a glimpse, a foretaste: When we gather for worship in our communities. When we steal away and sing to Jesus in our prayer closets. When we surrender the throne of our hearts and choose to give up the leading of our own lives, inviting Jesus to be King.
I pray that each week we lead our communities in worship, we’ll not be clouded by time or sin, but we’ll have and give a glimpse of the Land that awaits us…
“And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!” (Psalm 84:5-7 MSG)
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
A Glimpse (Nº 374)
