TheBanyanTree: Crossing the Andes

[Bobby Drummond]

We left Montevideo for Santiago in Chile midweek and mid-afternoon.  This time my flight was to afford me a chance to get great views of the Andes.  The highest point in South America is in Argentina and we crossed the backbone of the continent in clear weather.  

Below us lay the second highest mountain chain on earth. Snow capped peaks and massive rock outcroppings looked to be just below us even though we were flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet or so.   From the plane's window they extended in all directions but up. Impressive . . . glorious . . . magnificent . . . awe-inspring . . . they are all truly poor choices to describe them.  The right words fail me now in this case and probably always will.  They were all that and so much more. 

While looking at them in all their wonder from my seat I suddenly felt a huge rush of gratitude.  I was overcome with emotion and openly wept.  The people around me thought there was something wrong with me, no doubt.  And there was.  I was completely discombobulated. 

How could a country boy from the sticks somehow get to finally go where he'd dreamed about since he was knee high to a grasshopper?  

How could he not only get to see it all but get paid to see it as part of his job?

I think it not an exaggeration at all to say that God has been so much better to me than I deserve.  To this day I still can't figure it out.