When we arrive at Calico Jack’s we are in for an unknown adventure! Neither of us has ever done anything like this in the first half-century of our lives! Ziplining through the jungle? WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN US INTO? We decide to take the “Ultimo Explorer” tour. This 1.5 hour tour is over 2,900 feet of zip line comprised of 9 runs and 15 platforms that take you over and through the jungle. I am totally pumped! My husband on the other hand, having an aversion to heights, opts to go last! After eventually trusting his harness and brake, he begins to enjoy it as much as I! As we zip over and through the tree tops I ponder how many other “first time” adventures God has planned for us in our next half century. As we hike through the rainforest to the heights of new platforms I wonder what sort of terrain may lay ahead in our walk of destiny. By the time he reaches his last zipline run my husband is ready to yell “I ‘Belize’ I can fly!” My heart is full! As I unhook my harness I wonder, am I trusting God’s harness for me so that I can experience the fullness of His adventure for my life?
The drive through the wilds of Western Belize to and from this remote village of El Progresso, Cayo is an adventure of it’s own. Although our drive is less than 30 miles and judging by the map should be about 20 minutes, it takes about an hour each way. Along the way we watch the land transform from farms to dense jungle. Beside the dirt road the fence posts were made of hewn logs. Obvious from the sprouted branches from their tops, most of these logs have taken root! Some have even turned back into dense jungle thickets.
Gazing out the car window I ponder those fence posts. How much life those “logs” still had in them when they had been cut and set in the ground, essentially being transplanted. Their last bit of life was spent on propagation! These logs which had been healthy were now cut off from their supply and buried! Yet all their needs were supplied by the richness of the soil and tropical environment. While some simply became fence posts others spent their remaining life giving EVERYTHING to see LIFE propagated to the fullest again. They put down roots to draw life from the rich tropical environment and grow new branches and eventually bear fruit.
My husband and I came here to Belize for a week with the purpose of helping our long time friends as they pioneered a church in the District of Cayo. My husband was ministering to this new church! Adam and Lizeth are doing just as those “logs” are! They have the life of Christ in them and they are digging into God’s Word to bring life to citizens of Belize. They in turn will produce fruit and propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their own nation!
Those logs that did not grow into trees were planted in the same soil. Why did they NOT grow? Why were they content to be simple fence posts? What made the difference between them and the young tree posts? As a gardener I know a little about propagation. Those posts failed in the roots. They were unable to develop a new root system in a timely manner for whatever reason. Maybe they got dried out and lost their life while they waited to be “planted”. Maybe they were planted in a drier space or season and lost their life soon after planting. Perhaps they were not secured as well into the soil and had too little contact for roots to grow. I could not help but wonder, how much life do I have left? What will I spend the rest of my life on? Am I like the logs that did not have enough life within to propagate new life? Will I use ALL that is within me to grow roots that will draw on the Source of life to bring life to others? I don’t know how much life is left in me but I know that Christ lives in me and I want propagate the Life of Jesus Christ to the fullest in my life and in others even if that means being cut off and transplanted! I want to be a thriving & living fence post!
Mark 14:8 (NIV) “She has done what she could.” This is not a flippant sort of remark as if to say “oh that’s all she could do.” No! I believe Jesus is saying that she has done EVERYTHING she possibly could do! Don’t you want Him to say that of of you and I? Can I please be just like this woman with the alabaster box? She poured out ALL of her hopes and dreams to honor Jesus! What dreams and hopes am I still holding onto because they are too precious to give to Him? She traded all HER life for the unknown adventure that only He could give her! She trusted the harness! #METOO! How about you?