Honduras

Last night at Abuelo's house, the family was testing my Spanish by asking me the meaning of the names of Latin American countries and some of the states in the U.S. I had no idea that Montana comes from the Spanish word for mountain (montaña) and Venezuela is Italian for "little Venice" and Colombia is named after Christopher Columbus (I never really thought about it!).

Come to find out, Honduras literally means "depths" in Spanish. Columbus is traditionally quoted as having written "Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas Honduras" (Thank God we have come out of those depths) while along the northeastern coast.

Paul, who had suffered much for even greater things than the discovery of new lands, said

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38-39

and

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raised the dead. II Cor 1:8-9

I'm thinking that the depths of the raging and vast sea that I face in my life will not separate me from God's love. I'm also thinking that these "depths" are not accidental but are a part of God's plan for my maturity and His glory. In that, I find much comfort and I also say with Christopher Columbus, "Thank you God!"