Travel log 2
Below is a simple start to some words I penned after returning home from our trip to Central America a few months ago. After spending ten days traveling around Costa Rica with our kids, I can honestly say that our lives have been changed. We were blessed with some incredible experiences, and more importantly, sweet time with friends.
These journal entries of sorts, may be published a bit after being written, as is the case with the words below. I hope these perspectives will serve to inspire you as you recall the people and experiences that have shaped your life and travels.
To read part one, click here.
(Written February 2018)
Nearly three years ago my husband and I sat in matching poolside lounge chairs watching the belly of an iguana, sunbathing next to us, as it swelled and contracted in the sun. The crystal blue water of the infinity pool in front of us was still, and the two pina coladas we had just enjoyed made the whole setting feel a bit more dream-like. I sat with Bob Goff’s book, “Love Does” between my bended knees and confessed to my husband what he had already been feeling. “There has to be something more than this”.
More than the luxury suite with the extra wide picture window that we couldn’t open, separating us from the great expanse of green that continued until it met the vibrant blue water of the coast. More than the candle-lit dinners, and overpriced tours, and watching the beautiful culture of real people from behind the glass of our rental car windows while the A/C struggled to keep up.
While all of these things aren’t necessarily bad, and while relaxation can be good and useful, the thing is, we didn’t feel useful. We felt unremarkable, maybe even self-indulgent, and dare I say bored?
Days before, we had driven on a dirt road in the late afternoon shadows through the interior of the country. It felt like the jungle could swallow us up, save for the signs of life every few hundred yards. Homes were dimly lit in the fading sun, with family and friends gathered around small television sets to watch the “fútbol” game. Motorbikes were stacked in front yards, worn from heavy use on roads pocked with holes and Latin music pumped out the windows while young children danced inside.
We watched from the gravel road we travelled down, wishing we weren’t tourists. We wanted to be in the living rooms, and around the crowded tables and a part of the melodic conversations. We wanted the feeling of security that comes from being surrounded by friends and family in a foreign place.
Bob Goff’s words rang fresh in my mind.
“Accepting the invitation to show up in life is about moving from the bleachers to the field. It’s moving from developing opinions to developing options. It’s about having things matter to us enough that we stop just thinking about those things and actually do something about them. Simply put, Jesus is looking for us to accept the invitation to participate.”
“Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary. He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, “Let’s go do that together.”
This idea of looking through a lens of opportunity rather then settling for a life of set expectations was wildly appealing to us. Yes, we were there on vacation, but what if there was more potential in our trip, more then sunbathing and tours that would take us to the places that thousands of others had gone before?
And so there at the pool, while our skin baked in the heat of the afternoon sun, we decided to change our lens. To look for opportunity. To say, “yes” to whatever invitation may present itself. We didn’t know what this would look like, but we opened our palms to the sun regardless, hoping that perhaps we could fill our pockets with more then overpriced souvenirs and small coins.