Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean

Yesterday we made our way out to the western end of Europe - the Cape St Vincent, being the southwestern tip of Portugal. The weather for the last two weeks has been a mixture of clouds and rain, cold winds and periods of sunshine, so I expected a wild blustery experience out there on the cliff tops, with nothing but the boiling sea and way off, somewhere out there beyond the mysterious horizon, Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean.

As it happened, by the time we got there, driving out through bare scrubland out to Sagres, beyond the condominia and luxury resorts of the Algarve, the wind had died down to a moderately easy breeze, and the air temperature higher than it had been. So we found a cleft between two rocks to snuggle down in at the world’s end and gaze out to sea.  And watch the seabirds swooping down the cragged cliffs to some precarious ledge on which to perch, build homes and bring up their young. Oblivious, it would seem, to the perils of the foam below and their dangerously precarious position above the crashing waves below.

Makes me think about the lines of an old old hymn, that expresses the sense of hiddenness that the person who finds his rest and security in God knows, away from all the turbulence and uncertainty of life.

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life with the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,

Fanny J Crosby was blind from the age of 6, yet managed to see with eyes of faith, and understand the total security that was hers through knowing a God who personally loves and cares for her. Through the course of her life she produced over 800 hymns, many of which are still known and loved.