It’s that time again. The family vacay! Suitcases, sunscreen, backpacks, iPads, chargers, boarding passes, passports, etc., all combined with the minor irritations, sibling rivalry, and squabbles that come with the territory. Ohhhh the joys of travel with children…

By the time we arrived in Nosara, Costa Rica, I felt pretty exhausted. The two hour ride from Liberia to Playa Guiones ends with a bumpy dirt road and a landscape dotted with native people, livestock, bicycles and ATVs. The contrast from where I was going and where I landed is extreme. Basically, the hustle and bustle of life comes to a screeching halt. I felt a little fear that ten days in Central America might have been a tad ambitious!

Some friends invited us to their ranch for an afternoon horseback ride. Sounded promising. After about half hour the sky darkened and the thunderclouds rolled in. Our guide motioned us down a path to a small stucco structure that I later learned was the home of a ranch hand and his wife. The sky opened up, and in five minutes we were drenched as we dismounted and walked into the front door.

And then I met Nelson. With his dark brown skin and huge infectious smile he proudly showed my family and me around his home. With its concrete floor and rooms partitioned off with fabric hung from the ceiling. His shower constructed of a water hose attached to the ceiling in the back corner of his kitchen. His outdoor toilet. His kitchen, consisting of a Bunsen burner and an ancient corn grinder. And his bedroom that he shares with his young bride consisting of a mattress lying on the floor.

Suddenly I was still. Suddenly the hustle and bustle of life and pre-vacation chaos melted away. As I began to communicate with Nelson through our guide and ask him questions about his life, I was present to the moment. As he showed me how to grind corn to make tortillas I was awake to life, at last. As he reached up to his shelf that held his two and only two mangoes and proudly took one down and insisted I take it, I was aware of the presence of my Creator.

The Big Book tells us that “deep down within every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God.” (Page 55)

I’m pretty sure Nelson knows all about this, without ever cracking the book. I’m grateful I got the chance to see it, but more importantly, to feel it. #TYG

Marsha Stone, CEO
BRC Recovery