(This is a memory from last summer, when I went on a mission’s trip to El Salvador. On this particular day, I wrote a journal entry as soon a we got back to our hotel so that I would remember. The entry is below.)
July 3, 2016
I can hardly believe I get to live this day, this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We went to the El Salvador Beach today after church. The waves, one after another, crashing foam cresting each rolling hill. I’ve never been is such crazy waves. My legs still remember the strength of the riptide when I walk. Your handiwork, Jesus! I could hardly breath as I watched. Each moment, each drop of salty water, each sparkle of black sand, every laugh – I just wanted to hold it and smell it and taste it and feel it with every fibre of my soul.
Black sand. Black as a silk midnight. A diamond burning in the sky, outlining the ocean’s fleecy robe in liquid gold. Salty, tangy, whispering breeze – it grabs my hair, it grabs my heart. A hidden dance to a secret beat. The waves roll on in mysterious cadence: grasping and retreating, dauntless than receding. Mist, like the breath of a wave, blows across my face and is gone. Ice vendors hawk their wares. Children laugh and shriek in a language I cannot understand. It all swirls together, around and around, twirling in intricate dance. Every part – unique. Every movement – different, yet all interwoven into a dancing tapestry of rhythm. Higher and higher, louder and louder! The world crescendos in an outburst of praise. Praise to You, its Creator, it’s Orchestra Director, the One with a Baton in His hand. Moments like these, my soul is filled with wonder; because somehow, someway, it knows that this is how it ought to be. And a longing, hidden down deep, springs to the surface again. I know this feeling, this burning in my soul. I’ve felt it before, and my heart cannot help but remember its touch. I walk down the pathway of memory…and I find laughter, victory, music, family, a flaming sunset, and a sky full of stars. I find the strong arms of my Daddy while he danced with me before bed. I find the gentle touch of my Mom, and the love of a sister. I find backpacking trips and arctic cliff jumping and homemade rope swings and seven crazy brothers. All these thinks come back to me as I yearn for this moment to freeze a second longer. And then they all whirl into one and I am left with a single word. One word to explain a thousand perfect moments, one word to describe the straining of a soul, one word to tell 16 years of memories. And yet, one word is all I need; because through it I was created, born, and then born again. This one word flung stars and galaxies, it envisioned a lily and striped a zebra and wove light and made man man from dust and breath. This Word was with God, and it was God, and the Word – is Love.
Empty Spaces 