The lava fields. This island is like no other I’ve seen. The barrenness of the land….the igneous rock is everywhere…..making up the entire island, and in my mind, I don’t find it that beautiful…..but as I observe this “dead” landscape, I see life….I see beautiful things growing amongst the rock….in-spite of the rock, there is growth, there is hope, there is beauty.




We jumped the barbed wire fences, we approached our hill. From a distance it was majestic, it was perfect for climbing…to look from afar, it was a straight shot to the top…it would be easy. We began the accent….as we got closer, we realized the challenge of our hill….there were easy patches of long soft grass, but throughout this grass were briar bushes…..painful thorns at every turn….we hadn’t expected this set back on our “easy hike” to the top of our hill. We were committed though, there was no turning back, we couldn’t control this, we never saw it coming…we had to go through it…we had no choice. It’s nice we had each other though….we were struggling together….at times laughing, at times cursing our rotten luck, at times wanting to quit, but feeling there was no other place to go but to continue up. Then someone would remind us of our goal…to reach the top…to see the sunset….and we would press on. While traveling through the painful briars I would sometimes stop and just look around at the amazing beautiful view….breathtaking, and I would forget the hard part of the climb. “It’s going to be worth it”, a voice called from the top of our hill- encouragement from above. Then the summit….exhilarating.

Life isn’t a straight shot….Life isn’t easy….life is filled with brokenness and pain….but life is also an incredible journey, full of wonderful things, blessings, beauty, love, adventure, excitement….The goal is to finish…..The goal is to live life in the best possible way we can…no regrets….We know this life isn’t it….we have a wonderful “top of the hill” to look forward to….we have that hope…..we press on towards that which we were promised. We are not alone. We have other life climbers with us….we hold hands….and we go together….we endure together….we share the good parts and the bad parts…..we listen for that encouraging voice from the top…..we press on and look forward to a day with no briars.