**For the five-year anniversary of COVID, I am resharing some of my journals. This is what it felt like to hear you could not get home from Zambia.
On Friday, we saw Victoria Falls from the half-cracked window of a moving van, speeding towards what we thought was the plan...then more slowly, we stopped to take selfies when we pitifully dragged our luggage back across the border, feeling the shock of plans denied.
On Saturday, after exhausting all options, our group accepted that we were settling into life in Africa until the United States could come to pick us up. With that, we decided to explore this natural wonder in depth before heading back to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
We started by hiking to the top of the falls to see where it originated. Then, we slowly made our way to the bottom. About halfway down, you come to a place where you can walk out on an algae-covered bridge, floating high above the depths where the mighty falls crash at the bottom. If you choose to walk out on this bridge, your reward will be to see Victoria Falls in her full splendor. We almost didn't. They weren't renting ponchos because of coronavirus concerns, and we could feel the mist from far away.
Thankfully, our adventurous hearts won out over the practical. That mist turned into buckets of water dumping on our heads. Clinging to the rail, trying not to slip through gales of water and laughter, mascara streaking, unable to see through the waves of showers, we had the time of our lives!
At mid-point, we stopped in our tracks; the view took our breath away. None of us spoke. Time stood still. The falls were raging, deafening. I stood in awe: "God, Your voice is like the sound of rushing waters. I hear you, Lord." The full view was hidden by a vapor that spewed from the crash at the bottom. But if you waited and watched, the wind would briefly blow the veil away. And all of a sudden, there it was: A dynamic display of glory, there the whole time. You just had to wait and look for it intentionally. Even when you couldn't see it, it was moving. When the wind blew the thin barrier away, my eyes could see it clearly.
Nothing has captured my faith experience quite as tangibly as this. As we walked away, my wise friend Jessica said, "I wonder if God kept us here today for this reason, to feel His glory like this."
So many times, people want to experience God like we did on our drive-by, checking a box safely inside a comfortable car.
Some people spend more time looking when they are discouraged, as we did on our walk back from the airport.
But the reality is that He wants us to explore His depths and heights in a full-on adventure. When it's unclear that He is moving, it feels more like rain is dumping on us, and we can't see the power of a Holy God at work. He wants us to be still and look deeper. That day, on the precarious bridge, being showered by the most powerful waterfall on earth, He let me see Him in a new way. That day, He took my faith on a literal walk, and I feel like I saw God.
Jesus, I will always go exploring with You. I will look for you until I find you, even when I have to get uncomfortable. Those are the times that I feel the most alive!
