Hell’s Gate is the name of a National Park near Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Many, many hundreds of years ago, Mt. Longonot, (which proudly sits in the Great Rift Valley) erupted and the lava flow created a fiery pathway, which eventually became a beautiful gorge that seems to travel into forever.
These last two weeks of 2011 have offered a wonderful Kenyan safari and adventure. As we hiked through the gorge, it was easy to forget that in someone’s mind, we were walking through ‘hell’. A beautiful blue sky met by magnificent architectural looking sheets of rock, mysterious looking passage ways and hot springs splashing from the depths of the earth’s belly were evidence of both beautiful and dramatic transformation.
Fast-forward a couple of hours later: we were literally being pulled by rope through the muddiest dirt roads, reminiscent of days gone by. Quick background – I attended a high school, Rift Valley Academy (RVA, Kijabe, Kenya) in the late sixties/early seventies, that was situated in the high hills overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Mt. Longonot provided a spectacular view everyday – so, in one sense, I was going home. Since we were so close, the goal was to get there before dark so that my son and niece could witness the hillsides upon which my sisters and I grew up as boarding students during our teenage years.
Picture this – our front wheel drive vehicle tied to a Landrover by too long a rope for my liking, slipping and sliding from one side of the road to another – it was supposed to be a ‘short-cut’ – are there really any short-cuts?
RVA was and is now a Christian missionary school surrounded by and overlooking nature’s wonders – you could call it heaven-like. However, the ride there felt like an accident waiting to happen – each hill and sharp turn threatened backsliding and failure – this piece of heaven was no easy path.
We made it through the now gated and transformed campus … and stopped at the home of my former classmate who had pulled us through one hell of a ride. As we munched on a light dinner, my heart sank as I watched darkness envelop the great outdoors. There was going to be no view of the RVA of long ago – the window was closed and the Promised Land had descended into darkness.
We eventually shared the shadows of our memories illumined only by artificial outdoor lighting.
The past was not present.
I invite you to take this thought into 2012 – names, descriptions and expectations can sometimes cause what we see to appear inside out or upside down. Look closely as we move into this new era of awakening and consider that as life unfolds we will indeed be the right way up.
