Forces of nature

The first picture is of my goofball friend Stephen being Stephen on a statue near the city of Banos in Ecuador, which is located at the base of an active volcano named Tungurahua. We had just stopped there briefly to take a pitstop after being cooped up in the van for several hours on winding mountain roads.

The second picture is of the the same statue, approximately 3 weeks after I had taken the first one. I found it online after hearing that Tungurahua had a major eruption. Notice the 15 ft. of volcanic ash and debris. Several people died. Rescuers are still searching for the giant toucan.








This third picture was taken about 1 week before the first picture (about 4 weeks before the major eruption). It shows a view of Tungurahua venting off some ash and steam. This photo was taken during a glorious evening in Shell, Ecuador, as we played soccer with some local hospital staff and medical students. It was a pretty incredible evening - a rainbow hung over the Amazon rainforest in the east, the sun setting over the Andes in the west, and a plume of ash from a local volcano set the backdrop.

You ever have those moments when everything seems like a dream? When the surreality makes you wish that you could push the "pause" button and savor it just a few minutes more than the reality of time will allow? It was like that. In these images and memories, I am reminded of the many incomprehensible sides to the Creator. On the one side, He displays His nature in such beauty, wonder, and love that it makes me want to cry for realization of my finiteness and undeserved blessing. Grace. On the other side, He displays (or allows?) His nature on such a scale of sheer power and destruction that it boggles my mind. It makes me want to cry for understanding, pain for the suffering, and the ability to make sense of it all. I know He is justified in everything He does, but that doesn't make it easier to understand why people die in volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tsunamis. I guess I should be thankful for my life, what we all have and are spared from everyday - the things that we will never know, nor think about precisely because they don't happen. Mercy.
I guess I'm thankful that I can't completely figure Him out - I would get bored otherwise. Besides, if that weren't the case, what would He and I argue about?