Luck Rarely Gets You To The Summit

I was in a convenience store recently and watched the woman in front of me plunk down sixty dollars for lottery tickets. And maybe she felt that this was a particularly lucky week but I got the feeling she did this all the time. It wasn't one of the "mega" type jackpots either where people spend all sorts of money once a year hoping to win the hundreds of millions.

She, like many, was probably hoping that luck would change everything and she was willing to sacrifice some of her resources to take that risk? And could a life change by playing the lottery? I suppose so though the statistics aren't very good for people who suddenly get rich. Even so, there's only one chance in scores of millions that any one person wins anyway.

It seems to me that luck is a pretty risky way to try and climb higher in life. Luck rarely gets people through cancer to a new job after many lean years or moved on following a messy divorce. Luck has no real power to help us other than to show up now and then but we can't control it anyway.

Summiting, whether a granite mountain or a life challenge, requires some other important things be substituted for mere good fortune. Like what?

Knowledge is a good place to start. Learning what we can about our disease, our challenge or options to  is vital. And in the age of the Internet (though not everything there is true or helpful) there is no excuse for not learning more.

I remember coming down Mt. of the Holy Cross in Colorado with my son. Unfortunately we got lost on the way down in the fields of boulders. There were cairns that we saw on the way up but we unwisely didn't look for them and got off the best route back to our trail. So we bushwacked our way hustling to outrun an approaching storm so we could get down to treeline.

All of a sudden we came upon a trail thinking we would be way off course only to realize later that it was the right one. We got lucky! But we would have done better if we simply had been better prepared and learn the correct route ahead of time.

Taking some wise next steps also beats luck. Many people get paralyzed by their struggle so they spend lots of time and energy hoping that something (like the lottery) or someone will get them out of their jam. And of course other insightful people can be wonderfully helpful but sometimes we need to merely take some next steps too and go as far as we can with what we know.

If you're on a challenging mountain like Everest you'd better plan to get to base camp first before you start thinking much about camp 4. And often that success, though limited, can also give you some encouragement and momentum.

Third, persevering always beats luck. Lucky people rarely win or even finish races but those who keep going usually at least finish. That's why I call this blog and website Never Quit Climbing. Don't stop, don't get paralyzed, don't give up. In fact the best option is to make the decision to keep going before you ever start out.

Perseverance is a decision, but one you probably don't want to try to make on the spot.

But whatever you do don't count on luck. If it bails you out from time to time, OK. But remember luck is just that - the chance that something good happens when you most need it. The better way is to do what you need to do so you never need it in the first place.

Slow Down - You Will Climb Higher and Better

I've watched my share of great climbers (I'm not one of them). And I'm always amazed by their patience, deliberation and pauses to ponder their next move. Unless they are in a competition for time, they rarely rush. They know that great climbing is not a race, it's a journey. It's not a competition but a conquering. Getting to the summit must not be hurried.

And yet so much of our culture models and requires hurry. I was driving home from lunch with my wife today and behind me a woman in her SUV was clearly frustrated and appeared angry that she could not make me go faster. I couldn't have if I wanted to but that didn't matter to her.

I then needed to change lanes and watched her place her bumper inches behind the next car. She would jerk forward hoping to go on and then slam on her brakes when the car in front of her had to stop again. She was a mess . . . and in a hurry. I don't think she was having fun.

Yes, there are times to hurry - to the hospital, when late for work or to help a friend in need perhaps. But most of the time hurry can be at worst disastrous and at best distracting. Disastrous when we make a horrible mistake and the result is unnecessary catastrophy. Distracting when our constant harried pace through life or a climb causes us to miss some of the views, the moments, the experiences that are what life is really about.

We can hurry through the early days of marriage, the young or even teen years of our kids. We can hurry through each day and miss special moments hearing the stories of people all around us or seeing special moments of life. We can hurry through our job and not enjoy the simple accomplishment of success or a project well done.

Who of us hasn't said I wish I would have ____________ when I was ___________?   I wonder if we would have less of those wishes if we'd only hurried less.

Some suggestions?  Do some intentional slowing down. Drive slower, eat slower, talk less, remove a few unnecessary things from your schedule. Get rid of the thinking that you're have to live up to some sort of potential.  Guess what?  You never will so stop trying.

Drop your entitlement thinking.  We all believe that we're entitled to that place on the road, that next step up the corporate ladder, that activity or school for our kids.  It's alright to do your best to get for you or your family a certain benefit but when we starting demanding those benefits we start hurrying more and often there is a price to pay.

Give yourself more time.  Whether it's a real mountain or a life mountain or just a daily acitivity purposely plan more hours or minutes to do it, not less. As one writer calls it add margin to your life.  Even God took time to rest, to slow down.  If He can, we can too.

Very few great things are easy or quick. Spend your time this week, this month, this year doing more great things with your life . . . but you will have to slow down.

Updating Your Attitude App

If you own a smartphone with applications on it you know that quite often a message comes telling you the app needs an update. Sometimes it's just a small thing, other times it involves a pretty significant change.  Nonetheless, if those apps never get tweaked they will become old, outdated and ineffective.

In the same way, we climbers will need our attitudes updated from time to time if we're going to continue overcoming and making it up our personal mountain. Why?  Because life, hard climbing,  and challenges take their toll on our attitudes. They can slowly cause our inner person to deteriorate without us even noticing.

For example, we can become complacent and just not want to try as hard. Or we get discouraged and simply want to quit. Or we're thinking so far ahead about all we may face that we have little energy left to deal with what we are facing right now.  We can forget to be thankful because we're overwhelmed by the hardships we encounter every day and substitute anger or bitterness instead.

We can become bitter because the climb seems to never end.

So how do we update our apps . . . I mean attitudes?  First, we need to get around more positive people.  No, not mere blue sky painters but people who will help us regain our perspective and see our blind spots.

Second, we need to regularly take inventory of how we are blessed. Start thanking God for everyday things that you still have even though you're facing a major challenge right now.

Third, go serve someone else. If you're a cancer patient go sit or ride with someone else going through cancer treatments too. Get you eyes off of you and onto them for awhile.

Or, talk to someone about it, a counselor, pastor, friend or mentor. Let them shed some light on where you are and how you might change your thinking in other ways.

I don't know about you, but the apps on my phone are changing all the time. It's normal and OK. So don't be afraid to do regular updates on your attitudes. They usually affect everything.

Important Reminders When Tragedy Hits

We're all still overwhelmed and shocked by the horrific shooting of innocent children and adults recently in Connecticut.  And naturally all sorts of questions are already being asked about the shooter, his motives and of course why could this have happened in the first place.  And for now we must wait for those with the greatest expertise and most knowledge to come up with those answers and not suggest our own trite or uninformed responses as tempting as that might be.

But I think there are some things we must re-visit and hopefully continue to learn from as we walk through these unexplainable events that seem to be plaguing our country and world more of late. Let me suggest a few.

First, evil is real and something more than the occurrence of bad things or the actions of bad people. While some things can be explained by mental illness, events of the past or a terrible upbringing, not everyone who experiences those things goes out and kills the innocent. Evil takes these humans to another level that goes beyond any sense of decency, normalcy or compassion for others. Evil comes from a source beyond our world, from Satan himself, whose ultimate goal is to devour, kill and destroy.

If there is no God and no Satan, then the actions of these deviant ones are merely genetic and the bad results of evolution. Our grief and sense of loss are the same. It's all just chemistry. But who wants to make that argument today?  Does it make any sense?  Not really.

It's why faith involvement, training and relationship is still essential to us and our culture. Yes, we want to be a country where all views are respected, but we must never allow expressions of faith and the use of faith principles to be completely removed from our classrooms, public squares and discussions in general.

Second, death for many has become unreal or fantasy. No, I'm not going to suggest that we should remove all violent video games or that video games directly cause these tragedies, but parents ought to quit letting their kids and teens keep playing them indiscriminantly. They have turned killing into a game where the people get back up again to play again.  But Hollywood and other media should also be challenged to quit making the death of someone easy without remorse or consequence in their programs and films.

We must change our culture back to a society of life, good and hope from one of easy death and destruction.

Third, we must remember that God is still in charge.  The question that is surely being asked over and over is, "Why would God allow this to happen?"  And none of us has the whole answer to that but we can certainly know part of the truth on it. God gave mankind a choice as to whether we would follow Him or not. He never planned on making us into robots.

As a result, many people choose to embrace their own way, their own choices and ultimately Satan's evil desires over God's. And when those choices get carried to their logical end, very bad things happen. Does God ever intervene?  Of course. Probably more than we know. He has certain results in mind that we won't ever understand in this life.  He does miracles all the time. Sometimes we see them, sometimes not.

But God wasn't looking the other way. I'm sure He's more sad than we are. And I'm confident He will still do something good with all of this. He always does.

Watch Out For Loose Rock When Life Climbing

If you've done any hiking or climbing in certain parts of the Colorado Rockies, you know that loose rock or what is called scree, talus or just rotten rock can abound. It's difficult and dangerous. From feeling like you are taking two steps back for every three forward to literally hurling down a mountain to one's death on it, this common hazard in the mountains is not to be taken lightly.

We were just in Aspen this summer and did some hiking up by the Maroon Bells. Interestingly there is a sign near the beginning of the summit trails that warns hikers and climbers that these peaks are extremely dangerous. One of the reasons is the bad rock that can get people into places they can't get safely down from later.

And while it's also found in numerous other climbing spots in varying forms, there can be loose rock in our life climbing too, situations that can cause us great pain and injury if we don't avoid them. Let me suggest a few.

Making decisions too soon after a death or other loss. Many people want to soothe their pain and think that a new relationship, move to a different home or job change will make them feel better. While there are a few exceptions those big decisions too early often lead to greater heartache and an avoidance of truly dealing with one's grief.

Turning a pleasure or normal action into an addiction. Another form of painkilling is when in our pain we decide to drink more, buy more, work more, study more or whatever more. While these things, not necessarily bad in and of themselves, can help us feel better for a while, they too can be destructive to us and our family. They take us away from the things that would help us most to move on in healthy ways.

Not letting others help us on our journey. Climbers will usually tell you that climbing alone is filled with dangerous possibilities. The same is true in life. The whole world doesn't need to know every particle of our emotional journey but someone does, someone other than another hurting person in our home or family who has little left in their tank. Instead, find a counselor, pastor, friend, group or mentor who will walk with you for a time. Their listening ear and perspectives will help you keep your eyes on the trail and avoid some of the other rotten rock you might encounter.

So climb on. The best way to avoid loose rock is to not go near it in the first place.