Hope on Acetenango

The following is an excerpt from my journal following the morning we hiked Volcan Acetenango in Guatemala.

4:00am. I turn over the makeshift cabin is cold, Tony sleeping next to me, we’re headed to the summit of Acetenango. Ezra gets up “I literally have nothing, I threw up last night, but I’m still gonna do it.” I speak scripture, “…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…” Ezra gets hyped up. One by one every guy decides to get up to head towards the top.

     We knew it would be hard, it was cold and dark. People felt sick. “The Lord stood by my side and gave me strength.”

     About half way up the hike I looked in the distance. You could see far on the horizon a small red dust. The beginnings of a sunrise. Around me stood many of my brothers and sister, who endured, but with much difficulty, often complaining, looking only towards the summit. However I began to feel my heart yearning for the sun. Charlie remarked, “I came here for the sun.”

      Because something inside of me knew, that a moment would come when that small light on the horizon would cover the entire sky. This is hope.

      Only us who follow Jesus know that one day all will be light, and darkness and night will pass away. We live in this world as the ones yearning for morning, who say “my souls waits for the Lord, more than watchman for the morning.” We are the ones who with confident faith can say that one day that small red dust will give way to a powerful unstoppable and permanent sun. May we not get lost in the midst of our trials forgetting that the morning is coming!

     Truly waiting for the Lord is no easy thing. When a watchman sees the morning coming he is expectant. Each moment continues to build in that expectancy. The night is hard, and cold. There is also a powerful work the Lord does in us during the night. The cross. Without the night of the cross there can be no resurrection morn. May we be like Jesus who looked to that morning and beyond while He bore His cross.

     And finally may we rejoice that though the night is lonely we never are truly alone. How good is our king that He has given us a great hope and a the gift of His presence to endure while we wait for that Hope. Thank you Jesus!

-March 2nd 2025