Picture this: You put one foot in front of the other, taking one step forward and sliding two back, bent in half trying to support your 30 lbs pack and all you can see is your feet sliding around in the volcanic ash. Welcome to my experience hiking Acatenango, a 13,700’ volcano here in Guatemala. Well, the first part, anyways.
About an hour and half in, maybe two hours, my squad-mate Elijah says that the Lord wants him to carry my pack for me, in addition to his own. My mind goes blank for a second, like what the heck are you talking about? But having been praying the previous week to be able to accept the Lord’s blessings, and not wanting to quench the Spirit, I say, Sure, have fun. Long story short, I probably only carried my own pack about 45% of the time, up and down.
The pack (eventually just called Red) got passed around from person to person, from Elijah to Reed to Cole to Jeremy (one of our guides) to Brook, then Abby, Erika, and Marissa. Most of the way down, Freddy (another guide) carried Red. My mind is still a little boggled as to how this even worked, but God’s hand supported each person who carried my burden. In Reed’s words (or word), it was “easy.” Marissa says she could feel Holy Spirit helping her up one of the hills. Elijah was given an abundance of strength from the Lord that day. Each person who carried Red learned something different from the Lord; the fact that He used me and my incapability to fulfill His glory and prove His will still blows my mind.
Early on in Training Camp we were learning about Community while still leaning on the Lord and what that looks like; the verse used to describe the dichotomy between being dependent on the Lord and being interdependent on each other was Galatians 6:2-5: “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.”
Even while my community was helping me bear my burden, I still had to depend completely on the Lord to get up that volcano. My load was different than my burden; one I needed my community’s help with, and the other only God could help me with. Learning the difference and how to approach them has been a challenge, but boy howdy am I ever thankful He gave me such a tangible example of how He designed Community to work and how my individual relationship with Him complements my brothers’ and sisters’, and vice versa.
Thanks for reading! Love y’all bunches,
Claire
Dad and I are having dinner at Culver’s, after a sunset walk along ice covered Medicine Lake. We watched your awesome video and read this together. Dad says you’re a good writer! Yep! And we loved the boy howdy! And I just can’t even say how this fills me with joy!