Choose Your Path Wisely
Last summer I had the opportunity to spend some extended time in pursuit of my goal of climbing all 58 of Colorado’s 14,00 foot peaks. As of today, I’ve successfully summited 35 of them.
In mid June my son and I decided to make a run at Mt. Wilson. The Wilson group (Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak and El Diente) are a rugged and difficult series of peaks located in the far southwest corner of Colorado. The Wilsons have the reputation of being as difficult to climb as they are to get to.
My son, Will 3, and I had read several trip reports about the treacherous conditions on Mt. Wilson. The May snows had made for a very late Spring in the Rockies. Above 12,000 feet, it was basically still winter. We are both very experienced climbers, however, and had successfully summited many mountains in similar conditions, including in the dead of winter. We figured we could handle whatever Wilson threw at us.
Here I am on a different 14,000 foot summit a week before our Wilson attempt. This is loads of snow for mid-June.
We camped below the trailhead and started our climb around 4 AM. The lower portion of the hike was uneventful. But after we got above timberline we ran into field after field of slushy snow. Slushy snow is the worst kind. It simply isn’t stable enough to hold you. The steeper the terrain got, the more difficulty we had safely navigating it.
We also had trouble finding the trail. Normally an easily discernible trail guides you up Wilson. But that trail was buried under twenty feet of snow. And since my son and I were relatively unfamiliar with the mountain, we were basically winging it.
We made the decision to make for a high ridge that was snow free. In order to reach the ridge we had to climb a couple of hundred feet up a steep wall that was covered with snow, ice, rocks and mud. It was slow and difficult work.
About halfway up the wall I put my right hand on a watermelon-sized rock that was sticking out of the wall. The moment I put my weight on it, the rock pulled loose from the wall. It wasn’t rock-sized, it was desk-sized. The entire mud, ice and rock wall gave way above and to the right of me. I instinctively shifted my weight to my left foot and pulled my right leg out of the way. The rock slide went right by me, just brushing my leg. When I looked down at the place where my right foot had been moments before, that place was gone.
That’s when Will and I decided to come back and try Wilson on another day.
I wonder if you can relate to my Wilson experience. I wonder if, because of poor life-navigational choices or just slowly getting off course, you have ended up in serious trouble. I wish I could tell you that my bad decision-making was limited to hiking, but it’s not. My life has had seasons of great difficulty and pain, simply because I didn’t follow God’s prescribed path for my life.
God has given us a wonderful guidebook, a map, called the Bible. If you will read it and do what it says, you will stay out of those danger zones that can cause you and those you love great pain.
In Psalm 119, David prayed: Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me, (Psalm 119:133). Steady steps…doesn’t that sound better than having the ground disappear from underneath you? Notice that to David “steady steps” meant that no sin would rule over him.
A few verses later, David declared: Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble, (Psalm 119:165). “Great peace” is something I was sorely missing on Wilson. I’ve also missed it in those times in my life when I have stumbled into sin.
What about you?
If you find yourself today in a world of hurt because you strayed off the trail, don’t panic. The same guidebook that could have kept you away from trouble can lead you out of it. Turn to God and his word. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you need to do to get back onto the firm soil of obedience.
It’s never too late with God, and it’s not too late for you now. Repent right now, confess your sin and get back on track. The safer path is waiting.
The post Choose Your Path Wisely appeared first on Will Davis Jr.
