Sometimes Climbers Of All Kinds Seek the Wrong Goals

I'm currently reading Ed Viestur's book on Annapurna called The Will to Climb. And much of the book explains the history of the many expeditions and brave climbers who took on this incredibly hard mountain. In the middle of it all were those like Ed who at least entertained the goal of climbing all fourteen peaks above 8,000 meters.

The leader of that pack was one of the world's most revered climbers Reinhold Messner, the first in the world to climb them all (Ed Viesturs was the first American and he also did it without supplemental oxygen). However, it's important to note that closing the loop or climbing them all was only a secondary goal for Messner. His primary goal was one all of us who climb granite or even life's mountains would be wise to keep in mind.

Messner writes, "Climbing increasingly harder routes, setting myself new targets, was of far greater importance to me."

It's easy for us to become enamored with our own records or accomplishments and miss reaching the more important, though perhaps less noticed, goals in life. We want to be better than someone else, overcome our struggle faster or make some sort of name for ourself when there are far more important things.

Like what? Perhaps just doing the next thing, maybe reaching a place just farther down the trail than last time or getting to a new personal record of some sort. Some of us are possibly stuck because we're failing over and over again at some goal or target that really isn't that important. What we may need to do is find a new dream or at least one different from everyone else and go for it whatever that means.

Maybe God has some unique goal and plan designed just for us that we're missing because we're obsessed with climbing the wrong mountain or overcoming in ways that just aren't possible right now.

Try praying for and looking for some other goal more within your reach and purvue. No, don't settle for less, just something else. Chances are it will still be some big mountain that you'll need every resource including God to reach. But my hunch is that once you go for that one you'll know you're now on the trail you should have been on all along.

Don't Forget The Essentials

The other day I went to the workout room at our condo complex as I do several times a week. I wore my usual sweat top and athletic pants as well since the weather was a little chilly.

Upon arriving I started to strip down to a T-shirt and shorts only to find out while removing my pants that I had forgotten to put on my gym shorts. Oops. Fortunately there was no one else there planning to work out or that could have been especially embarrassing.

I had forgotten one of the key components for my workout.

A lot of us also tend to forget key elements that we need when we're climbing our personal mountains.

For example, we can forget to take a good attitude with us each day. A good attitude doesn't mean that we're necessarily happy or smiling all the time. But it does mean that we don't walk around spending our time blaming others for our predicament or demanding that others meet our expectations that day. People will let us down and they don't necessarily stop and look at life through our eyes. They're not always understanding.

Our attitude nonetheless will make a huge difference in how we handle people and unexpected circumstances.

We can also forget to carry with us some faith . . . faith that there is Someone bigger than we are who is also bigger than our mountain.  Faith that something good can come out of our circumstances, faith that we will can be a better person by being challenged the way we are.

We can also forget to think about others.  We can get so focused on our climb that we don't serve or help anyone else. And yet some of our greatest growth will come when we care for other people even during our journey. We can actually heal better if we get the attention off of us and use what we've learned to help another person or family.

So don't go out today to face your mountain without your essentials. Think about how these three that I've suggested might be incorporated into your day. You might just be surprised at what you accomplish or conquer today that you never though was possible. You'll at least avoid some embarrassment!

There is a Place For Faith in Climbing

Maybe I'm just overly sensitive or perhaps I'm really on to something but it seems like faith, believing in God and living one's life by a higher moral code are dirty words these days. The media certainly seems to adhere to that view since they rarely write positively, if at all, about religious organizations or people (Tim Tebow comes to mind here).

Television and radio talk shows, except for a few with a conservative bent, are filled for the most part with celebrity guests  who are all about themselves and have little use for a higher power, even those stars in rehab.

But there's a problem with this fear-of-faith perspective.  We live by faith all the time. If you're a climber you certainly know what I mean. You have faith that your gear will not fail you, that it will hold you while you're hundreds of feet up a wall. You commit to it, whether you like it or not. In everyday life we put faith in our chairs, cars and stairs. We are not certain that any of them will not be a part of injuring us, but we readily use them anyway.

That's why it's at least intellectually more honest and while climbing the mountains of life more helpful to leave ourselves open to faith in something or better yet Someone bigger than we are. Mountains certainly remind us of that every time we climb. You don't have to become a religious fanatic to consider believing in God and what He might do to help you live more fully and joyfully.

But it is possible that you will discover that God is actually your rope, the One who keeps you from truly falling to your death, who helps you overcome and live beyond the hum-drum of everyday life.  But you say, "But I'm not certain of a God or that He will at least keep His promises."  True, but remember you're not certain that your gear will always work. But you trust it anyway using all of your rational capabilities to choose the best and to make sure that gear is climbing-ready.

So today if you are a person of faith, then let that faith help you climb higher and better. Test the power of "the rope" like never before and reach places that you thought you'd never reach.

And if you have put faith considerations aside think about giving faith another shot. Maybe it will be reading a Bible, going to a church, talking to a friend or just praying on your own. You decide. Nonetheless, you will be at least giving yourself an opportunity to climb through life with a perspective, joy and fulfillment that you have never experienced before.

And when you realize that God is a rope who never fails, you just might wonder how you climbed without Him before.

Life Reminders After 8 Days In the Mountains

Jackie and I just returned from some much needed rest and hiking in the Rockies. We were away only a little over a week but we found ourselves seeing once again how many things about life the high places teach us. Here are a view worth re-visiting.

First, you'll miss a lot if you succumb to only taking the easy option. Our hikes weren't nearly as extensive or challenging as some might do, but there were a couple of days when we wondered if we should push ourselves too hard. "Why go to THAT lake up another couple of miles when we could stay right here and enjoy this scenery?"

But each time we went beyond our preconceived limits we realized what we would have missed staying put. Mountain views, animal life and sunsets were just a few of the rewards. What a mistake it would have been to just remain comfortable.

Second, life is a lot about relationships with people. Along the trail we met a wide variety of individuals and families. Sometimes we took each other's pictures, other times we talked a little bit about where we were from. A group even found an extra lens that Jackie accidentally dropped from her good camera. We would never have found it without them.

Another young girl asked to borrow our sunscreen. We told each other about mountain goat sightings. While we relished the peace and quiet that we often had, we also loved the meaningful, authentic and spontaneous interaction with fellow climbers.

Third, there is more to life and creation than what we see everyday. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone to be reminded of the greatness and majesty of the world all around us. The beauty of a flower, the power of a 50 mph wind and the size of a 14000' peak all spoke volumes to us about a greatness beyond ourselves and a Creator who made and controls it all.

Finally, the beaten path is rarely the most memorable one.  Rarely did we or others rave about what they saw in a local restaurant, on TV in the condo or their drive from out of state. The greatest stories were told about situations and places people had never been before or which had at least pushed them beyond their normal limits.

While you may be going up a trail that is challenging and beyond your usual scope of life, embrace it as a different climb, one with the potential to teach you lessons like the ones we learned this week.

Climb on.

Living in Fantasyland Won't Get You Over The Mountain

Did you hear about the high school girl who went to prom with Tim Tebow?  Well, actually she went with a life-size cardboard cutout of him. Yes, that's right. Her dream, like so many girls, was that he would actually go to the dance with her but of course she never heard back from her letter of invitation.

So she finally decided she would go with him anyway - sort of.

And while you have to admire her determination and willingness to look a bit weird, she never really went with Mr. Tebow. It was still only a dream.

Often when people are facing challenges or dreams that don't work out they spend a lot of time dulling their pain living in a fantasy world. Some of those fantasies aren't that big of a deal, but many are at best unwise and some are at worst destructive.

The obvious painkillers are drugs, alcohol, and illicit sex, but there are many less socially unacceptable ones - work harder, control more, make more money, and the like. The additional problem is that when people take the route of just dulling their pain they become cardboard cutouts themselves and miss the blessings that will come when they live life again as real people.

Yes, sometimes taking hard steps is challenging but it's worth it. It may take time and your time to heal and move on can be different from other people's process. That's OK and normal.

Are you dulling your pain and living a cardboard, fantasy-filled life?  What are you missing out on?  And who is missing out on you? Chances are your family members are longing to have the real you back. So why not start today and come back as the authentic person you know you can be. Pain isn't always easy to face but it's a daily reminder that you're still alive!

Hope: From Cactus To Flower

The past few weeks have brought an unusual number of pressures and challenges to my wife and me. The latest is a family illness where the unknowns bring significant emotional angst. We've also both been traveling, much of it separately, and our physical reserves are pretty low right now, too. Sleeping has been irregular and interrupted much of the time.


Nonetheless, Jackie, upon returning home from her trip, went to the store and bought some new little cacti to put out on the balcony of our condo. She really didn't have time to re-pot them or anything but planned to do that within a couple of days. Three of them sat for a day or so just outside the door wall.


However, the next day, Jackie looked and each of them had bloomed with a beautiful yellow flower. They brought tears to her eyes and a lump in my throat later to realize that from the middle of those prickly extensions came beauty that we had not seen before.


That was an important reminder that yes good can come from bad. That the miraculous can rise from evil. That resurrection comes after the burial. That joy can result from mourning. That life in God always wins over death.


You, too, may be experiencing your own challenges these days. And it's easy to only see and feel the sharp edges of them. The pain, sadness and even feelings of despair can be overwhelming.


And picturing a potential flower won't remove the cactus but it can help you deal with it better. It can assist you in coping, keep you from remaining paralyzed and help you remember that God may be doing something beautiful in and through your circumstances that you simply can't see. Keep watching for the flower.

Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference In Climbing?

I wonder how many mountain and rock climbers think prayer is important? I have no idea. I've never done a survey or seen a study.

However, I have a hunch that many pray at least when they get in a tight spot, experience a sudden fall or face an unexpected thunderstorm.  Similar results may be true for those who face a mountain that life gives them.

Some may trust God implicitly and believe He really does care about their struggle. Others may not surprisingly wonder why God didn't intervene if He's so loving.

So let me offer a few thoughts about the place of prayer in our climbing. First of all, it would be wise and certainly can't hurt to look for God on our climbs. I mean, no matter where we're climbing, we have to admit that those walls, those rocks, those mountains and our circumstances are clearly bigger than we are. All that we see around us certainly wasn't put there by us!

Second, God also gave us brains to use to prepare well, make good decisions and not be foolish. I would guess that He tires of people all of a sudden praying to Him to get him out of messes they could have avoided if they had just been smart and better prepared. Yes, I believe He still does bail us out at times, but we'd have been smart to invite Him even earlier into our preparation.

Third, prayer is only logical if there is a God who is personal and still interested in His creation. This is where I think actual climbing in the mountains helps us remember that. The grandeur, majesty and size of the mountains speaks to a power much greater than mankind could ever produce.

So, as you climb, try talking to the One who created it all. If you've not done that before, at least give it a shot. I can tell you that from my experience He's willing to listen. He wants to know you and have you know Him. And He wants to be your fellow climber as well.