Guatemala '08

I just got back from Guatemala. I was simply amazed by the conference I was leading worship for and overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone involved (intermissions.org). This thing was first class all the way. I hope our Inspire Worship Conference is half as good. I am praying right now that they’ll ask me back again.
One of the highlights of our trip was climbing Mt. Pacaya, one of Guatemala’s active volcanoes. After our brisk hike was at the halfway point, our local friend told us about a scientist who studies the volcano everyday. Just the day before the scientist had told him that it’s about to erupt soon. This was said casually, in the same way you would say that a song was pretty, or that it might rain. The casual tone aside, I started thinking. Hiking that volcano was the equivalent of walking around on the top of a nuclear warhead. A warhead that was armed, deadly and controlled not by the whims of war and leaders, but simply by the laws of nature. In order to maintain the balance of geology, this thing was going to blow up and could go off like 100 atomic bombs. With great and deadly power gathering strength just beneath my feet, I was hiking around like so many other tourists. I gathered perspective from several different spiritual observations…1) the thing that is the deadliest and most destructive in my life usually lies quietly beneath the surface of what I think to be safe. 2) The Creator is fierce. All that power and energy was terrifying…there was not one person on that mountain that did not instantly respect and immediately yield to the power. How much more amazing is it that the Creator became the Savior. Wow. 3) You have not had a toasted marshmallow until you toast it over some lava. Enjoy the pics.