The Most Beautiful Thing

As announced, this last weekend I visited Murchison Falls National Park and got to see a new stunning side of God's creation that I will not likely see again. Even so, the real beauty I saw last weekend was not directly in his creation, but I will get to that later.

After 7 hours of travel in a safari van, we arrive in Murchison National Park. Our tents had already been setup with a view of the Nile and grazing hippos. After only short break and lunch we jumped back in the van, and headed for the savanna. These are the best pictures I took during that game drive.

These guys were chilling right outside the park. I guess that's what happens when you don't have fences.

Ms. Giraffe just stared at us like this for at least 10 minutes.

Here she is with her friends.

The Loser Buffalo, exiled from his herd. He was pretty aggressive and charged at us at one point.

After the game drive we got an early night sleep. We were exhausted from spending 10 hours in a car, and we needed to get up early before sunrise so that we would have enough time to visit the Falls, and see the eclipse. The sights were amazing, let me just show you:

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*Insert Lion King opening soundtrack*

I love how the clouds bend in this shot, especially with the vibrant colors protruding from behind the palm trees.

The interns. From left to right: Christine, Meghan, Mark, Thomas, Me, Jacob.

Hippo Tracks on the banks of the Nile.

Jacob pondering if he could survive jumping into the waterfall.

That's me in front at the top of Murchison Falls.

Some people like to do Safari's in style. 

After the short visit to the Falls, we headed straight back to camp to meet up with Tunç, our Turkish Astro-photographer friend. He managed to find a good spot to take photo's of the eclipse with a good view of the savanna. We spent the first 2 hours staring at the sun with our special eclipse glasses. It was quite a marvelous sight.

Geoffrey, our driver, fixes his glasses in preparation for the eclipse. 

About 20 minutes after first contact.

We found a cool way to "hold" the eclipse using a filter and flash photography.

Everyone was quite excited.

2 minutes till full contact. You could look at the sun without glasses at this point.

At this point we saw darkness cover the Congolese mountains. It rapidly spread across the savanna straight towards us. I look up at the sun and see that the only parts not yet covered are valleys on the moon. I look back over the savanna when the racing darkness hits us.

Full contact.

Cameras are rapidly firing all around me. I was conflicted as to look through  my camera and get a good picture or just to take it all in. In the heat of the moment I get this blurry picture and 16 seconds later it's over. The sun peeks out its face, the shadow disappears into the distance, and the sun's pink chromosphere fades.

It's over.

The astronomers and photographers that payed thousand of dollars to travel and even more on their equipment give a slight applause with smiles on their faces. Everyone looks at me saying: "Wasn't that awesome!"

I guess. As awesome as God's creation is, especially those 16 seconds, I did not share that same excitement. Honestly, it was was beautiful, but I just can't understand how people can literally chase these things all across the globe (some had seen at least 20 full eclipses). It almost felt like chasing the wind. We were not meant to worship the creation, but the creator. The beauty in the picture he painted reflects His beauty. I think of how our lives are like a vapor in the wind that is here today and gone tomorrow. I don't want to chase the wind with my short life, and I don't want to see others do it either.

The beauty that the Lord showed me that weekend was the beauty of his Gospel. I was raised a Christian and never really was brought to my knees in submission and confession of my sin. But for some reason the Lord spoke to me that weekend. Three days in a row I dreamed about sharing the gospel. I read the first half of "Mere Christianity" and the Lord shook me.

The love God has for us the most beautiful thing in this world, and you don't have to travel some remote African jungle to see it. It saddens me to see people in this world running so fast towards little things in this creation that seem to feel so good at the time. They need to know what is truly worth living for.

Listen. God loves you. You have probably heard that before but do you really understand what that means? The person who you are fighting against, the person you are rebelling against, loved you so much that he sent his only son. This son showed you how to lay your weapons down. Like a teacher he took your hand helped you form letters on a piece of paper. When you fought him he did not take up arms, but instead a cross, to show you what perfect submission truly looks like. And why? For the joy set before him. That's why. So lay your weapons down. He is in relentless pursuit of your life and your heart, and wants to take your life and give it purpose. Stop fighting. Stop chasing the wind. Let him take the vapor you call life and make it into something more beautiful and glorious than you could ever hope for.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

With Love,
-Alex