Costa Clems

Here I sit on a mid-October day wanting to write something to let everyone know what’s going on but still sort of feeling like nothing is really happening yet. I’m in Costa Rica, I’ve been here for three weeks now. We’re settling into the house [again] and working on taking care of the overgrown property, the neglected fruit trees, the many-fewer animals, and the daily “routine” of living in Costa Rica, but I still have a few tethers to my work in the States; in only 13 days I’ll be heading back to Seattle again to continue to take care of my business and several other logistics. It’s going to be back and forth for me for awhile and that makes me think about this in-between state we find ourselves in, this sort of half-here-half-there mentality and life of ours. This…purgatory.

I think most of my life I’ve been exposed to the concept of “purgatory” as a bad thing, or at the very least a restless boring thing, but it sort of has a good and bad mixed concept to it. A punishment for wrongdoing that sort of has the feel of hell, but an afterlife waiting station on your way into Heaven–so definitely not the same thing as hell, right?

That’s often how life in Costa Rica feels as well, an intersection of Heaven and Hell. Out the window I have palm trees, and 80 degree weather year round; we pick coconuts, bananas, plantains, cacao, limes, and stop at a market any day of the year and pick up the most amazing pineapples you’ve ever tasted for a third of what a mediocre wannabe would cost in the U.S. When we drive from one region to another and cross over the mountains we see breathtaking view after breathtaking view.

But we also have to fight back the ever-encroaching jungle of weeds and vines that grow fast and non-stop, the onslaught of beetles, mosquitos, cockroaches, and gnats that are everywhere, and being somewhat dirty all the time (will I always have to sweep dirt and dead bugs off my bedsheet before bed?). The hot nights, the huge spiders, giant toads that visit our porch after dark, the scratches, scrapes, stubs, and scabs that mark us up on a daily basis…is it paradise or is it punishment?

An hour from here is a natural mineral hot spring that rushes down the side of a volcano. Two hours in the truck and I’m at the Caribbean Sea. Less than 4 hours in either direction I’m at either a resort on the Pacific or a Jamaican village on the Caribbean–but to get there we have to traverse a dangerous road system full of tire-destroying potholes, frequent thunderstorms, possible mudslides, occasional earthquakes and active volcanoes…

But that’s actually the case for all of the earth isn’t it? The rain and the sun and blessings of life exist all over this planet. The fruit of the earth, the accomplishments of Man, the achievement, the beauty, and joy to be found in food and drink and play and work… along with the pain of loss, disease, tsunamis, rape, murder, and hatred.

The whole earth is the intersection of Heaven and Hell: there’s the presence of a God who created good things for us to enjoy and to delight in giving glory to him through, and also the presence of sin and despair and a people who have abused and rejected and neglected their God. It’s people–image bearers of God–who are not reflecting him well. It’s broken and cloudy mirrors, some doing our best to try and clean up, and others doing their best to burn the whole thing down.

For those who are walking with God, who are becoming more like Him, who are being changed and renewed day by day… this is as close to hell as they will ever get; their suffering and pain creates a longing for what is coming next.

For those who are walking through life functioning as their own gods, who are seeking their own satisfaction and pleasure at the expense of everyone and everything else, the pleasures and joys to be found here on earth are as close to Heaven as they will ever experience… and there will never be enough to satisfy or fill them. It is such a poor substitute for what could be as they try and suck as much pleasure from the world as possible before the end.

We hope and we wait for something better, enduring the suffering and difficulty here in the hope that we can reflect just a little clearer the reality of what God is like and who he is. And as we become a little more like Jesus each day we become a little less connected to this world and we begin to see heaven more clearly. The awesome thing about seeing heaven more clearly is the hope and the future that it gives you–the worst part is that it allows you to recognize more clearly how painfully lacking our impersonation of it is here below.

So enjoy the sunset or sunrise, depending on when you are awake :). Enjoy the latte, the snow, the beach, the breeze. Enjoy the food and the drink, and in all that enjoyment, thank the Lord who allows us to experience a taste of what he has in store for those who worship and follow Him. But when you see the bee-sting, the hurricane, the crime, the injustice, the broken bone, the life-threatening disease–when you feel the pain and the defeats of this life, know that this is the edge of hell and it’s as close as we’re ever going to get to it.

For me this world is the worst it will ever be, and for others, this is as good as it gets. And my job is to fix my eyes on Jesus so that by his grace I might endure a little bit of hell to maybe be used to guide a few others towards heaven.