I love waterfalls. Water is fun and even more fun when its falling or moving fast. As a child I played at the train tracks a lot. Our house was only a short walk away from them. It was a child's paradise. It had trains that came by regularly, no parental supervision, so many cool spikes and good trash to find and a ditch that flowed just on the other side. The water passed under one of those concrete bridges with some kind of water level regulator or something. The water would split just under the bridge and rapidly flow downward. My brother David and I would throw a stick or anything that floated up stream. Oversized beer bottles that the bums left behind were the best. We'd watch from the concrete bridge, many times on our bellies so we could see the stick or bottle's entire journey down the rapids and small waterfall. It fascinated us.... still does. Not too long before I came to Costa Rica, my buddy Kaleb and I worked for about 45 minutes trying to get this giant log into the river so we could watch it go through the rapids and a small waterfall towards the bend in the river. I say work and I mean work. We were pushing, prying, lifting and crying. Success! Time well spent I say. Better than another crappy episode of Friends at least. My sister Michal and I love to explore and a waterfall is usually the destination. Not too long ago we hiked to this waterfall she spotted on a map by Hartland. What a quest and well worth it too. We came upon this waterfall that fell some 75 feet or so with a great swimming hole at its base. We jumped off it, we slid down it on our butts and swam at its base. I'll say it again, time well spent. Better than a day of shopping at the outlet. That very next week I went to Yosemite with my cousin Stephen and saw some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. These waterfalls dropped from what seemed to be thousands of feet; maybe millions! They would leave a tightness in my chest; a thirst like feeling that cant quite be quenched. I wanted to memorize every square inch so that I could revisit it in my thoughts.
That feeling I had with David at the ditch on our bellies, with Kaleb as we chased a log down the river, with my Michal as we indulged in Gods creation, and with Stephen as we gazed at those magnificent towers of water was not a fulfillment of my preconceived expectation. I was experiencing the unexpected.
Before I came to Costa Rica I was told of its beauty. It is a paradise with waterfalls and beautiful jungles I heard. I have seen jungles and waterfalls before and yes, they are beautiful. Websites described an endless adventure of whitewater rafting, zip line tours through the jungle and beautiful waterfalls. There is so much adventure; so much excitement. This past weekend I went with some friends on a zip line tour through the jungle. I zipped through, turning upside down and doing what the guides suggested. I found myself pursuing the fulfillment of my expectations rather than experiencing the unexpected. I found myself trying to live out what the websites described. I was trying to live another persons adventure rather than experience my own. What the heck! Thats not my style. I want my own adventure. I realized this on the drive home.
We drove 3 or 4 hours I guess; I'm not really sure how long it was. It was a rainy day as we winded through the jungle. I had my window half way down most the trip. The water splashing on me didn't bother me that much like it does on a rainy day back home. My focus was stuck on the jungle. I stared with my whole being as we drove on. The jungle has so much to look at. Some of the leaves are as big as the hood of my truck. Vines are hanging down from trees that tower over us. There are waterfalls everywhere. The waterfalls steal the attention from everything else. Some are heavier than others, making a louder appearance. But my favorite waterfall was a little one. It was a thin white line cutting through the jungle. I could only see little tidbits of it before it leaped from the cliff side. The water splashed onto a branch, just over head. It drizzled down and dripped from every leaf on the branch. It was a wild waterfall, untamed and beautiful. It grabbed my attention like a pretty girl, turning my head in awe as we drove on. This waterfall was new and fresh, now but a moment in time. It was a moment of experiencing the unexpected. I noticed I felt different. This brief experience was pure, unadultured by the pursuit of fulfilling an expectation. I saw the moment for what it was.
I think this is how God designed us to live every moment. This moment was not the pursuit of any expectation, but the acknowledgement of what really was. yada yada, I don't really feel like writing anymore.....
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