Surrounding Beauty

It seems amazing to me that in a country with so much poverty there is so much beauty! That something so bad is surrounded by something so good. Looking at the green mountains that encircle Choluteca I think of a verse that my friend Davitra once reminded me of, "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people." It makes me think that maybe God is offering the current beauty as a reminder of the future beauty to come. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that such beauty is juxtaposed with such poverty. It only seems fair. If people must suffer in their earthly lives then at least they should be surrounded by the natural beauty of the Lord.

I often find myself wondering if the campesinos of Honduras, that is to say the poorest people of Honduras who often find themselves living in the most remote mountain top villages, are aware of the beauty and splendor that they live amongst? Their life is a hard life. One filled with back breaking labor, hardship and toil. And yet, they live in some of the most beautiful places on earth. I visited our clinic the other day, which is literally located on the top of a mountain in a remote village, and was in awe of the beauty that I saw. On the same mountain top Mission Lazarus has almost completed construction on a new church building. Now I am telling you, I want to go to church at this building everyday until the Lord comes. If you attended this church you could not help but meet with God. Let me explain... Instead of windows the church has a series of three sets of double doors that open on each side of the church. And the view you ask? Oh my word! It is amazing! If you saw this view you would know that God is the maker and creator of heaven and earth. The view nearly drops you to you knees in awe of God's great artistic ability. Out the left side of the church you look west toward the Gulf of Fonseco. Your eyes are first overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what you are seeing. Then as they start to focus you realize that the you are at such a high altitude that you can see down the rolling green mountains past the glistening shrimp fields into the Gulf of Fonseco and beyond to the Pacific Ocean! An hour and one half up a bumpy mountain road and you can see the Pacific. Absolutely amazing!

Surely, the mountain people must know that they live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I think when God surrounds his suffering children with the beauty and splendor of his creation the people must hear (or at least, they must innately know) that the rocks and trees are crying out to God, honoring and worshiping his name. I hope and pray that the beauty of the Honduran mountains serves as some type of visual relief for the poor mountain people and that it reminds them of God and His great love.