Disappear

I can’t seem to watch enough documentaries about people who live in Alaska, Siberia, and various other locales where no one else lives but them. I envy that solitude, that fight for survival where nothing matters but food, shelter, and making it through another day. The pettiness of most of our pursuits and desires becomes crystalline and basics become paramount. 

In order to chase after a taste of this desire, I love hiking on various mountains across this great country by myself and not seeing people for days on end. To some people that sounds like purgatory, but to me it sounds like pure joy.

I have no desire to ever be known or respected by anyone but my family. I don’t want to be on a stage or have people recognize me. The idea of “rich and famous” repulses me to my core, and everything inside me, humanly speaking, screams to stop when I sit down to write a blog, stand up to speak, or enter a room where large groups of people are “having a good time”. That's partially what I loved about midnight shift as a cop. While most people slept, I would go about my work keeping others safe and they never knew who I was or that I existed or did anything for them. 

Here’s the funny thing, it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter what I want. It doesn’t matter where I want to live. It doesn’t matter if I want to disappear and never be seen or heard from again. The only thing that matters as a follower of Christ is to listen to His leading, and if that means I am to write, speak, or interact, I will do it with all that I have.

After many, many hours of watching those documentaries (and various zombie and other apocalyptic movies that depict a similar world where only a few people remain) something interesting struck me.

That is a life wasted.

That is a life where someone would, maybe, find my sundried and bleached bones and then move on with little more than a passing thought about what kind of life he lived. Life only has meaning when we impact others for the eternal cause of Christ. Anything short of that is gone as soon as it starts.

We are, as the Bible tells us, truly a flickering flame, a morning fog, or a wildflower, here today and gone tomorrow. At best, only those in direct contact with us will be affected, and they move on, as they should, fairly quickly, and the rest of the world does not miss a beat, not a step, and traffic resumes its commute as if nothing happened.

That was one of the things that always got me as a cop.

You work a horrific fatal accident, clean it up, open up traffic, and I would watch the faces of those driving by while I wrote my report. They are clueless as to what they are driving over and the images I smelled. 

That’s our life. It does me no good to hide in Alaska, Siberia, or any other distant corner of this world, temporally, sure, but not permanently.  I must let the love of others trump my human instincts to run and hide. The Great Commission is my primary pursuit, and if that means becoming known so that some may come to the knowledge of the Truth, then that’s what I will do. 

Not begrudgingly, but with a passion that drives me past the mediocre and into the realm of all that He has gifted me. 

The naysayers, like me, will soon be gone, and it’s only eternity that really matters.

So no matter where you are, a small town in Alaska or a large city in Brazil, impact your world for Christ. Stand up, speak up, and tell others of the Good News, even if you are uncomfortable and want to hide in a dark corner like I do.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

God of Wonders

Just south of the U.S. Mexican border in the expansive Chihuahuan desert, abruptly springs the Naica Mountains. This mountain range derived its name because it sits on top of the deep and ancient Naica fault that birthed these crags. In the late 1800s, prospectors began to dig into the Naica dust in hopes of finding buried treasure that only Mother Nature could create. It did not take long till miners discovered precious metals like lead, zinc, and silver. Occasionally a mineworker would find small yet striking crystals in the rocks.

In April of 2000 brothers Juan and Pedro Sanchez did not believe the mine had given up the last of its booty and entered the dark and deep mine shafts. They were not novices at mining and so they began to excavate new tunnels in search of elusive hidden treasure. Suddenly and unexpectedly, their shovels pierced a rock and mud wall. The heat and stifling humidity from this never before seen room pummeled their bodies and filled their lungs as the mud tube in which they stood breathed in this alien air. As their dim miner’s lights stabbed the darkness they quickly realized that something was different about this chamber. No, it wasn’t precious metals, sparkling diamonds, or a lost city; it was a room bursting with never before seen massive crystals the size of steel girders that support modern day skyscrapers. 

National Geographic explorers and scientists have since voyaged the half-mile conduit and entered the dwelling that is justly named The Cathedral of Crystals. Others who have gazed upon its grandeur have nicknamed it The Sistine Chapel of Crystals. Nat Geo describes the view as “It looks like Superman's fortress. Hidden deep beneath the surface of the Earth is one of the greatest natural marvels on the planet: a giant crystal cave with crystals up to 36 feet long and weighing 55 tons. But this scorching cavern could kill humans after just 15 minutes of exposure.”  

Humankind seems to have an unquenchable compulsion to explore, find answers, and discover the mysterious. It is this motivation that propelled Ponce De Leon to seek the Fountains of Youth, Christopher Columbus to seek a route to the riches of India, and Bill Gates to expand the realms of possibility in microchips. It is this drive that most often attributes to great and magnificent encounters such as the Naica Caverns.

I would imagine when Juan and Pedro first crawled out of the bowels of the earth and excitedly witnessed to others what they found, their friends likely thought they had inhaled too much toxic cavern gas. Eventually they were able to coax someone else to breach the earth’s surface and slowly travel to the immense depths to view never before seen and indescribable beauty beyond measure. The Sistine Chapel of Crystals has been in that location for many millennia and has simply sat there waiting for adventurers to discover its creative and breathtaking splendor.

You see, it’s not that the crystals were not there, they were; it was that no one sought them out and no one opened up the craggy door to absorb their intensity. But once they opened this portal they could not contain their excitement, they had to go and tell others of this unseen miracle.

In all of history something like these glowing skeletons were relegated to fictional books like Journey to the Center of the Earth but now the unreal has become real.

While the Cathedral of Crystals is assuredly remarkable, defies logic, and to some level believability, it does not rise to the level of paranormal. That is, science understands how these improbable formations came into existence. There does exist, however, something behind these translucent treasures that is in a real sense paranormal. That something is what we call God. The all-powerful Being transcends all known laws of science and is the force that allows such wonders to exist. God is far more intense, awe inspiring, bewildering, and awesome than anything we behold with the naked or aided eye. God is the greatest treasure of all and unlike the caverns in the Chihuahuan desert that require discovery; God has and is seeking you.

Isn’t that incredible to consider that God wants and loves you so much that He created you and left His thumbprint to quench your natural drive to know something is true; in particular, the existence of an unseen Being? He offers such exhibits as the massive crystals, quantum particles, and colossal universe so you could know He truly is! Are you burrowing around seeking the ultimate pearl and are your eyes wide open to the opulence that awaits you? It would be a travesty to traverse this plain and miss the reality that surrounds you!

“Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens
   and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the LORD,
   for at his command they were created, and he established them for ever and ever—
   he issued a decree that will never pass away.  Praise the LORD from the earth,
   you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
   stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills,
   fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds”

Psalm 148:3-10