Good morning. It is a beautiful day, all the more so because we have some rain, which is needed. Rainy days have their purpose, but they do tend to limit our options. Our choice of behaviors, especially those outside of work, may be cut down to whatever we are able to accomplish indoors. That is OK, at least once in a while.
What will be the most challenging decision you have to make today? For some, it may have already been made. It may have been what to wear to work, or it may have been what activity to focus on. Life is full of choices, but please note that the question I asked was “what will be the most challenging decision you have to make today.” What to wear, or what to eat for lunch may not quite reach that realm of “challenging decision.” I’d like to share an example of a truly challenging, real life decision.
Dan Mazur and his two friends considered themselves incredibly fortunate to be where they were at that moment. For years they had dreamed of, and planned for, a trip of conquest. They wanted to be some of the few people who could honestly say that they had climbed Mount Everest. At that moment, Dan was only a few more hours of arduous effort from reaching the peak, achieving his life-long goal. Nothing could stop him now!
Dan and his friends had trained hard for a year to reach the physical condition that would allow them this opportunity. They had saved their money, and it takes a lot of saving because a basic climb runs close to $50,000 and one with greater help from locals can easily run double that amount. The peak is over 29,000 feet above sea-level. The temperatures that high are typically below zero, with winds often blowing 30-40 miles per hour or more. Sudden blizzards are common, and the air is oxygen starved. At any given time, you may need to walk around the corpses of unsuccessful climbers. Dan and his group knew that a group of British climbers had died on the mountain quite recently, and there were other climbers unaccounted for and assumed to be dead.
But Dan and his group were going to make it! They were still in good shape from a physical standpoint, none of them showing signs of problems. Years of planning, dreaming, saving, sacrificing, were all going to pay off!
Suddenly, a flash of color caught Dan’s eye. There was a fair amount of snow blowing around, but Dan could make out that what he was looking at was the fabric of a yellow parka. And then it moved. As Dan’s eyes focused on the spot he saw a man perched on the edge of a cliff face. His gloves were off, as was his hat. He had his parka mostly unzipped. The lack of oxygen is known to cause brain swelling, which in turn causes hallucinations. Dan approached the man and asked if he could tell him his name. “Lincoln Hall” the man replied. Dan and his group had heard on the radio the day before that Lincoln Hall had died on the slope, his body abandoned there by his climbing group. Obviously, his climbing companions had reached a premature conclusion.
Dan’s group came to him and it was immediately obvious that they needed to make a decision. They could leave the man where they found him and finish the climb, achieving their dream, or they could abandon their climb and try to save Lincoln Hall. Saving him would be a tough task. The trip down the mountain is often considered more dangerous than the accent, and now they would be doing so carrying a person with them. Decisions, decisions. They agreed to turn their back on the summit and do their best to save another human being, realizing that he may very well not survive anyway. But he did survive, and Dan and his group have a great story to tell of their adventure, and of their humanity.
Jesus said: Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must, every day, deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Every day we make life’s most challenging decision. Every day we must decide if for this day, we will deny our own self-interests, consider the will and the way of the Lord, and figuratively speaking, pick up our cross and follow Him.
I pray that you will make the glorious choice today. The task ahead may be great, or it may seem small, but rest assured that the Lord has something in mind for each of us, every day.
Vern