I
have hiked up two mountains in my adulthood, three if you count a hike in
Idyllwild, CA when I was in college.
They weren’t very big mountains but to an inexperienced climber like me
they seemed huge. The trails were steep
and often rocky and I had to climb over some pretty big boulders to get to the top of one
of them.
One
of those experiences happened on a day when we drove out into the mountains
with a car load of youth group teenagers for a day of hiking up the
mountainside. I was going more as a chaperone than a serious hiker. There were
others much more qualified who were leading the way. When we got to the trail head and stepped out
of the car there was the mountain rising in front of us with a long winding
path leading across the valley and up the mountainside. At first the path seemed easy. The walk was fairly level and there was lots
of shade and trees.
Then, we started to
climb. Within a few minutes, my heart
was beginning to pound. I became dizzy
and breathless and suddenly I had to sink to the ground. I couldn’t do it. Everyone gathered around me in concern and as
I began to catch my breath again, I decided that everyone should go on without
me and I would just return to the car and wait for them there. So, the investigator and I turned around and
began walking back. I felt
defeated. I had failed. And as I slowly made my way down the trail I
felt a deep sense in disappointment not only for myself but for all the
others. What was wrong with me that I
couldn’t do this? Other people made this hike every day. The
more I thought about it, the less I wanted to return to the car. Suddenly, I just stopped, turned around and
slowly, carefully I began to make my way back up the hillside.
It
was a long slow climb and I had to stop and catch my breath many times along
the way. Sometimes it was just putting one foot in front of the other trying to
make to the next switchback. Every
couple of turns I would have to stop and rest and each time I stopped, all the
kids above me would call down encouragements to keep coming. Once I crossed paths with an old gentleman
with his walking stick on his way back down from the top. He told me he was 90 years old and he often made the climb several
times a week. That did it for me. If he could do it, then so could I. And so I continued on step by step by step.
Finally,
I made it to the top where I met up with the others who were waiting for me. As
I rounded the curved and looked out over
the top I stopped and gazed out in wonder at an absolutely glorious view,
mountain top upon mountain top spreading out across the Cascade Mountain
Range. It was breathtaking, a sight and
experience that was more than worth every step it had taken to get there. I felt blessed beyond measure and so
thankful that I had persevered to the top.
Isn't this a metaphor of the Christian Walk?
Each
of us has our mountains to climb in this world and paths to walk. We can try to bypass the mountains by
avoiding pain as much as possible and taking the freeway of life around to the
other side. But if we want to get to the
peaks we have to do some climbing. And
so we choose to leave the highway and take the narrow path that leads up the
side of the mountain. Sometimes, we get
cut and bruised a bit in the daily grind of work and relationships but hopefully
we keep going.
Our
lives are often filled with switchbacks. Maybe
we didn’t get into the college of our choice or we were passed over for a job
or our spouse is laid off and we have to move to another town. We lose loved ones too soon. At times, we’re scared, or weary or angry with
ourselves or with our lives. It doesn’t
seem as if life is fair or we didn’t get what we wanted or expected out of
life. We face a choice. We can choose to go back down to the valley
below and try to catch the highway around our troubles and where life seems
easy and safe, living with the
bitterness and disappointment that goes with it, blaming others and God for the
failures of our life. Or we can get up
and continue on the path.
As
we turn around and begin to climb again we suddenly discover that each
switchback has been taking us closer to the top. What we thought was intended for evil, God was
using for good. He has been there all
along walking beside us and even as the rocks of life get sharper he gives us
the strength to carry on. We look at the good things all around us and
we start to notice that while this path might be narrow and
steep there is joy along the way. We can
stop and rest in the Lord. We are not
alone in our struggles.
Not only are
there those who are climbing the trail with us right now but there is a “great
cloud of witnesses” who have walked the trail before us, loved ones who are already
at the top waiting for us and encouraging us to keep coming until finally our
Lord Jesus helps us up over that last final boulder and over the ridge into a
new life, eternal life. And the view is
going to be more than we had ever hoped or imagined.
We have finally come home.
