Catching up.

This past summer I had the opportunity to climb a hill...a 13,820 ft. hill to be exact. A hill that I would later discover was one of the highest known peaks in the state of Colorado. I signed up for this excursion because it was a Father/Daughter trip and also because it seemed like an adventurous idea at the time. At 2:00 in the morning however, after an already grueling climb to base camp, a meal in a bag, freezing temperatures, and no sleep, I began to second guess my decision making skills.

I remember each pain staking step as we climbed our way up and out of the forest early that morning, leaving the comfort of tents and sleeping bags behind. Once we were out of the clearing I kept my headlamp fixed on the rocky ground in front of me so as not to slip and fall in the darkness. We wanted to make the summit by sunrise but knew all too well the long hours ahead before daylight. As the first hour passed, fatigue settled in. It was windy and cold and every step looked exactly the same. I began to get discouraged.

It wasn't until we took our first water break that something changed and God taught me a lesson not just about mountains, but about our heaven bound journey in life. For the first time in the darkness, I looked up towards the summit and saw the headlights of those further on up the face, bobbing steadily and slowly towards the peak. Down below me was the same sight-a steady stream of travelers, only they were looking up at us us.

What encouragement there is in this! That in our Christian walk which so often can seem like a foot by foot crawl, that we have the wisdom and encouragement from those are much further on. While at the same time, there will always be others that have just met Christ and will be looking to us for that same guidance and hope. This is discipleship at its best and it is what makes the journey not just exciting, but climbable! Keep pressing on in your walk with Him and remember to look up, look out, and be encouraged that we are surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses!"