beautiful

When I hear this word only one thing really comes to mind. Amelia Earhart. No, not the pilot that was lost – the mountain. It is on the backside of the Yosemite Valley and climbs to an astounding 15,000 feet. It has this curvy road that leads to its summit and the view is INCREDIBLE! The bluest of lakes are at her feet, the Yosemite Valley and its 7 waterfalls caress her back – beautiful seems to have been invented here. I have been learning a lot about beauty in the last year – it seems as God wants me to understand it fully and to be able to use it to describe my relationship with Him. This week He gave me another lesson in beauty. It came in an unexpected time – but in my 3rd favorite place on earth, Solidare. I was going to hang out with a friend. We had just met the week before. He is a student at Biola and is here for 4-6 weeks. We met in odd circumstances – he was tagging along with another group, I was tagging along to see what the training was like. We hit it off immediately and had been able to chat a few more times. This was the first time that we were able to hang out without anyone else, so I was expecting a great night of conversation. We got downtown and after bouncing at 2 other places, we finally landed at Fridays. We chatted about theology and family and such. Then something beautiful happened. He gently asked me to put down my defences and talk about the pain and scars in my life. And I was able to share the messiness of my life – the pain and fears that keep me prisoner. He shared too – walking with me in the darkness of my life. We talked of pain, we talked of hope. We shared the truths that have preserved us in our dark hours – Ps 139 was gilded with love as we rejoiced together over the faithfulness and grace of our beautiful Savior. I will never forget this time. A few hours where hope was tasted. A few minutes where grace was real.