Climb

Christianity is like a mountain. A really steep mountain. A few years ago, myself and several mates decided to climb a really step mountain. Me and my brother Scott walked ahead of the others, chatting about life etc. When we got to the base of the mountain however, we were blown away by it sheer size and angle. The mountain seemed to penetrate the heavens. Cloud covered the summit. It looked uninviting and unforgiving. We all pressed on. As we started it was incredibly hard, for every two steps we took we slid a step back. eventually we figured out how to climb up without burning ourselves out. The accent became enjoyable, fun, energizing. Pretty soon we were at the summit. After some food and water we began to make our way down. We went down FAST. Every step, we would slide 3-4 meters. Admittedly it was fun, but it was dangerous. We fell over and rolled. We got hurt. My feet hurt, my hip was bleeding. We got to the bottom and began the walk home. One of my fondest memories


Looking at that brief account of that day what do you see in it?


This is what I see. Christianity is like that mountain. Christianity is hard, it requires you to put effort and sacrifice into it. But if you press on, continue in your walk, focus on the "summit" (Jesus, God), the route becomes easier. You can walk it with joy in your heart. Then there is the down side, literally. With every step accent is the steep descent. The higher up you are the faster and harder you fall. You tumble and you go in the opposite direction from God. Its a dangerous path to take.


Why do we tumble and fall down the mountain? Sometimes it is because we look back, we see the view and we lose balance. Sometimes we slip up and slide a little bit. Sometimes we get hurt on the way up, maybe from someone else falling, maybe because we don't like how other people climb or because of the "brand" (Church) of boots they wear. When we get hurt on the way up, we can decide that no, I'm sick of climbing and we CHOOSE to turn away from our ultimate goal of reaching the summit and we go for what looks like the easier, safer way in life.


What we forget as we climb, what we always seem to ignore is that everyone on this mountain called Christianity is in the same boat. Facing the same struggles. We also seem to forget that we have a guy at the top reaching down to us, wanting to help us. Jesus.


I want you today to look and see if you can get a fix on the summit. I want you to look at the goal. I want you to take up the challenge and climb with everything you have in you, with all your passion and desire. For reaching that summit is the most amazing feeling ever. . .