God Lifts our Burdens

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God Lifts our Burdens~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I wish you could have all been along that afternoon in southern Mexico.
It was abeautiful day and there is nothing bett... God Lifts our Burdens~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I wish you could have all been along that afternoon in southern Mexico.
It was abeautiful day and there is nothing better than a good lunch and then a nature hikeafter church.My wife and I were in the middle of a year of volunteer work in Villahermosa,Tabasco, Mexico. We had driven an old Chevy Nova down there, so we wereable to occasionally get away.
We had found some other young 'gringos' upin the mountains of Chiapas and spent most of our available weekends with them.This time, we went with them to a church that they had helped to build. It was ina very pretty mountain valley.
It seated about 300 people and was a greatnew addition to the local ministry. While they had been there with the buildingproject, they had found this place to hike and wanted to show it to us.We parked at the end of a road and started off over a flat area.
Being thenosy naturalist that I am, I soon found a flat rock to turn over. Under it was a mother scorpion with a back full of tiny babies.
She looked like a little wind-uptoy. She scuttled around looking for cover.Soon we came to the edge of a deep ravine.
At one end of the ravine was awaterfall. There was about a quarter mile where the river ran fairly level andthen went over another waterfall.
It was a perfect place to explore.On the steep climb down the ravine, it was amazing to see that this side of thesteep bank was actually a farm. It was so steep that if you stood straight up,you could almost touch the ground just by stretching out your hand.
But,the hard working farmers had cleared it and had planted corn there.When we got to the river, it was plain to see that the good exploring was onthe other side of the river. There was a place where there was a rock about six feet tall.
At the base of the rock, the river was pressed into a narrow channel. At that point we were able to jump across.On the other side, there was a large flat bedrock area.
On the edge of it theother side of the ravine was a steep cliff. It was covered with trees, mossand ferns.
In the trees and rocks were orchids and bromeliads. It was anamazing place.There were also many large yellow and brown butterflies.
They wereflying all over the area. The waterfall had a fairly large grotto that hadbeen carved out under it behind the water.
I later found out that therewere hundreds of the butterflies hanging upside down from the roofof that grotto.We spent several hours there enjoying the nature. Then it was time toget back across the river.
It was at that point that I found out that theonly way back was a narrow path at the back of the grotto.At the far end of that path, the roof of the grotto came down withinabout 3 feet of the path. One one side of the path was solid rock.
The other side was a thick wall of brush and small trees.The big problem is that I am a lot bigger than the people that normallyuse that path! I'm about 6'3". I had a friend that also worked at thehospital.
He was an average Mexican size. When we walked aroundtogether, the people called him David and they called me Goliath!When I came to that low spot, I had to get down to a low crawl.
I wasthe last one through. I got down as far as I could and got through there.But...When I came out the other side, my wife took one look at me and asked me, "What happened?"I was very pale and very shaky.
It was obvious just by looking at methat something had affected me terribly. What had happened is thatwhen I passed a particularly low spot, I had brushed up against theoverhanging rock with my back.
Then, when I came down lower again,the rock came with me!I can't remember a moment of greater panic! I was at the bottom ofa tall cliff of rock and I could just imagine the whole cliff comingdown on top of me. You can imagine that I immediately shook thatrock off my back as fast as I could.
The rest of the track went byein a blur and I was out!I've thought about that afternoon often since then. For several reasons...It is a pleasure to remember the beautiful time that we had thereenjoying the beauties of nature that God created for us to enjoy.I also remember the feeling of that large rock coming down on myback.
That has made me think of the way the Bible describes theload of sin that we each carry. If only I had the sense of urgencyto get rid of the sin - the same sense of urgency that I had gettingrid of that rock!How fast would I be running to the cross, crying for God to takemy burden of sin if I was sensitive to my need.
I pray that we will be less willing to carry our sins around. The cliffof sin above us is ready to crush us.
We must get out from under itor it will kill us. Let's pray that we are not content to carry thatburden around any longer.Until next week, may God bless.Ron McCluskeyhttp://www.trackinggod.com Article Tags: Other Side Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .