This morning at breakfast while talking with Hilary, she mentioned today was my day to write a blog. I responded with a sigh because I didn't know what I was going to write about. The past few days have been rainy and somewhat uneventful. She reminded me we would be going to the Mayan Ruins, and could possibly write about that. After breakfast we gathered our stuff and piled into the bus. As we pulled into the “parking lot” at the ruins, we found ourselves on the wrong side of a hill, stuck in the mud. After several attempts to make it back up the hill, we gave up and began our hike to the ruins entrance. We wandered through a series of temples and ancient buildings, taking pictures along the way. All of a sudden I hear someone yelling, “I found a vine.” Naturally I followed the voice, finding part of our group taking turns swinging on a vine, suspended by a large tree. People were taking turns swinging on the vine over a 15 foot drop off into the jungle. We were having a great time pretending to be Tarzan, seeing how far out each of us could swing.
Just before we decided to call it quits, Damon and I had the great idea to swing together on the same vine, and have Hilary take a “roommate picture”. This seemed like a fun thing to do so we got into position, took a running start, and jumped! We swung out to the farthest point when we heard an awful sound...SNAP. The next few minutes I don't remember very well, but the result was Damon and I laying in the thick of the jungle motionless. We stayed still for several seconds in shock of what just happened, partially afraid to find out what we may have hurt. I heard people calling from the ledge to see if we were okay and we responded with I think so. It soon became apparent which parts of my body met the ground first. My feet and ankles felt extremely sore and I could not pull myself up. I saw Cody making his way down the hill telling us to take it easy and stay where we would. I did not like the thought of laying down in the middle of jungle so once being helped up began to make my way up the hill. Shortly after Damon also reached the top of the hill and we just sat there in shock as Hilary and the nursing students surrounded us and tended to our cuts and bruises. Hilary helped me to clean up my cuts and got me some water to drink.
As I was sitting there, I began to process what had just happened. I thought about how long it seemed like we were in the air, and the thoughts that were going through my head. It remembered thinking to myself as I was falling, “this is it, this is it, I'm not going to walk away from this”. I started to feel sick to my stomach, and needed to go off on my own to get some air and catch my breath. I began to tear up which is not a normal thing for me. At that moment I was just in awe of how amazing God is. How Damon and I could fall 15 feet down a hill full of rocks and the unknown, and be able to walk away. It is another reminder to me that God is watching over me, and that he has big plans for me. I'm excited to see what he has in store for my life, and I know even if he is calling me to something I may not want to do, I definitely owe him more than I could ever repay him.
Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
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