A Jon Post
His Splendor
Wave after wave charges toward sand dunes piled two hundred feet high. The unmitigated fury of the ocean is resisted by walls of sand solemnly holding their heads high against the fray. Thousands of years of the anger of the sea are met by the thousands of years of the tranquil defiance of those dunes. Here lies the coast of Mozambique; beauty hidden away, not by secrets or jealousy, but merely by world-wide ignorance of what is watched over safely by a land most have forgotten. I myself have simply stumbled upon it. I read no guidebook, followed no GPS coordinates, heard no “if-you-do-nothing-else-you-must-see-this”. I have stumbled upon this treasure guarded only by the distance between here and there. Here, laid up for countless years, the richness of God’s splendor is displayed in the thunderous applause of the waves and the regal silence of the dunes. Here is Mozambique.
Many may think God left this continent long ago. After reading, seeing, and hearing of countless wars, famines, diseases, many lose hope.
But I think there is depth that so many choose not to see.
God’s been here the whole time.
He is in the smile of Tomé. He is in the hug of Maninha. He is in the shyness of Emilia’s greeting.
He is in the touch my wife offers to a lonely soul. He is in the time I spend sitting next to a tired friend, who waits for treatment to end.
God has always been here.
Not just since Layne and I started doing what we’ve been doing for a year now. For one year, we’ve been doing this with the energy of God that so powerfully works in us.
But for generation upon generation, there has been God calling out, pursuing the lost sheep, offering mercy where only judgment is deserved. We, the ransomed of God, will never know how dreadful deep were the wounds that scored His hands and heart, ere He claimed us for His own.
Here is Mozambique.
Here the Father pursues, has pursued and will pursue His own.