After nearly two hours of rocky, side-swaying roads, we arrived at the Turkana tribe in the town of Rare Tuesday afternoon. After setting up our tents and enjoying a hearty meal made with love by Mama Margaret, a few of the team set out in search of the infamous waterfall. We knew we could hear water streaming from afar, now it was just time to go find it. Little did we know this would turn into a great adventure. We ducked under a sketchy barbed wire fence, meandered over some rocks, jumped across a stream, then hiked a bit until we were surrounded by jungle-like trees. It took tons of teamwork to prevent my face from falling flat on the rocks, but with determination we finally reached the waterfall! This was my first waterfall and it didn’t disappoint- the sound of the water streaming over and out from the rocks was soothing and the beauty of it in itself reminded me to thank God for this moment and all of His creations.
As I looked up I saw two small, fuzzy monkeys swinging from the trees-you don’t see that in Florida!
When we were done being mesmerized by the gorgeous waterfall and scenery, our translator, Simon, led us up into a completely different environment. The sun shone brightly and there was dry grass and cacti everywhere. Simon led us to a ledge where we could see what felt like all of Kenya. After Simon practically skipped and jumped over to the death-defying ledge, I finally willed myself to climb-and by climb I mean hands and knees-to the ledge, then with shaky knees I slowly stood up. All this for a picture-once it was snapped, I lowered myself back to sanity. As I sat on the ledge, I took in Kenya-mountains, large green trees, herds of sheep, men plowing in the fields. This is Africa.
Simon decided to not only climb to the ledge, but out and over onto a small tree (limb) which looked like it could fall over at any time. I told him he was crazy, but he simply said, “ I’m not afraid. If I fall I’ll just go straight to heaven”. Simple as that, huh? I realized that it’s not that he wants to die, but he doesn’t have to live his life fearing death because he knows that he’s been saved and heaven is a promise for those who live their lives for Christ. It reminded me that there are still so many people out there who are unsure of where they will go when they die. They either live their life fearing death or live their lives carelessly because they figure they’ll just die eventually and they want to make the most of it while they have it. Well, I want to make the most of my life by glorifying Christ in every way possible; because this life is short. Because it’s not my life; it’s His life. Part of glorifying Christ is reaching the unreached, and not being ashamed of it.
I’m not saying I’m gonna go swinging on a branch over a ledge, but when my time does come, I want to be able to stand in front of Christ and have Him say, well done thy good and faithful servant.
