The Climb

This weekend, I was privileged to observe 'real' rock climbing for the first time in my life. Around a camp fire, many spritual parallels were drawn from the experience. Neat how God does that :-)

Saturday, a brave team of young women *ahem* excuse me- a brave team of beastly mountain women (lol)-went to climb a rock. Not just any rock, mind you, this was a 40 ft tall moss covered crevice that was nearly smooth. The general idea was to climb up the rock to the top and repel back down. The progression of events was rather comical. Two people made it up the rock, one person made it down and 15 people got drenched in a torrential downpour. Makes for some fun memories.

For me, the most impacting part of the day was a particular climber. She was having the hardest time getting past the first ten feet of rock. She would try one way, slip and fall, would try another way and, again, slip and fall. Blood was literally running down her one leg, but she continued to try. Leaders at the top and the bottom were trying to coach her on where to put her feet and hands, when finally, her belayer said, "Just hold the rope, I'll pull you up so you can get past this part and then go from there."

That's how it is sometimes in this rock climb that we call life. There are those who have gone before who are coaching and encouraging, but sometimes the current struggle is just too hard to bear. Don't give up; keep going. Call out for help and it will come. There are times in life, when despite all of the Christian friends around us, the only one we can hold to is God. He alone becomes our only hope of getting through.

A friend said that pulling on the rope reminded her of the jist of the poem 'Footprints.' It is God who is carrying us. At times, we just have to completely depend on Him and have Him help us through. Our Help, our Fortress, our Rope that will never break.