this past weekend we went to the mountains.
i am still amazed at the things i find surround this place.
the himalayians. their beauty and greatness. breathtaking.
it took two buses to get to this place, two very full buses i might add, some even with chickens. but as we began the climb up the mountains, as we left the city and passed green and trees and villages and began to smell fresh air – we found the retreat from the city was a gift.
5:30 we woke up to climb a small hill to see if the clouds would allow the mountains to be seen as the sun climed up from behind the line of snow capped peaks. much to our delight the many mountians were able to be seen and the sun as it got higher in the sky sun-kissed the peaks to create a beauty all it’s own. i found in the quite of the morning and the beauty of the sunrise there was a closeness to the creator, however i found too a mix of feeling as some unexpected events transpired as we gazed at this magnificance.
just behind us was a small temple. currently Nepal is in the midst of the festival deshain. during this festival there are a few days of animal sacrifice, as we saw some local villagers climbing the hill toting with them a number of goats we wondered what we were going to see.
you might be able to guess, put two and two together, sacrfice time + goats can only mean one thing – the sacrifice of goats. as the people carried the freshly sacrificed goats around the temple the blood left it’s mark, it’s covering, and i found myself wondering, as they did their ritualist traditions if what they found was satisfaction.
i found later, as i sat with my thoughts what a picture had been given. a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus, of the freedom i have because of the blood he shed. the blood he shed that covers me. i found myself thinking of this sacrifice.
i spoke with some of the nepali women i know here who have practiced for years the rituals of Hinduism, asking them if it was satisfying. each time i asked i found the answer the same it was one of wonder, wonder of why they did what they did, wonder of why when they prayed to their gods for peace conflict within their household continued, but because their father, grand father, great grand father did these things it is what they found themselves doing the same. but when they found Jesus.
He satisfied them. His blood covered them and there was peace.
I find that from the people here I learn much about sacrifice. The families we find oursleves among would literally do anything for us, they live in this place of understanding sacrifice that i don’t believe i fully know yet. i want to learn to grasp the reality of Jesus blood continually covering me.
in this place, of living in community and in a country that is unfamiliar i find that this thing sacrifice continues to come up. i am reminded that giving up my desires and wants, my time are not natural tendincies that come out of me. but i want them too – i want the knowledge of Jesus blood – the knowledge that it is finished to deeply seep into my soul, so that out of this sacrifice for me, i too can find sacrifice to share.
i am ever more grateful for this God of flesh. ever more grateful that my god is not a god of stone. ever more desiring for those around me to know that there is a God whose blood was shed, there is a God who desires to know them.
i found myself sitting in front of the majestic mountians, reading Isaiah and clinging to the words ‘abundantly pardons’ wanting to be reminded of that for myself, but also of that for the people of this nation.
because i think when i begin to grasp more fully this sacrifice – this abundant pardon for myself – this blood that was shed so that i don’t have to shed blood – then i will begin to realize that there is joy in sacrifice – that there is life in the blood – that this God of flesh has saved and covered me – and that i can’t help but beg for the knowledge of this sacrifice for those around me.