Almost two years ago to the day I was in California doing fabrication for a design studio. I was living with the guy who was directly over me. It just so happened that this was the time of the year that the men in his family go on an adventure trip. He was kind enough to ask me to join them, and I was naive enough to say yes.
This years adventure was to climb Mt. Langley. We drove up to 10,000 ft. and hiked in 6 miles to make camp, with a 90 lb. pack. The next day we took the summit with a day pack. It was a 4 mile trek to the summit which was 14,042 ft. Once we made the peak, we signed the book at the top and immediately turned around and went back to camp for the night. I did play Imagine Dragons: On Top of the World before I made the decent. It was 8 miles, up 4,042 ft. and down 4,042 ft. in one day. As daunting as it was at the time, I wasn’t going to turn down the chance to go. It was worth the experience and the lessons learned.
- Sometimes God will keep you valley because you are not ready for the mountain. Just because you look fit for the task ahead of you does not mean you’re ready for the task ahead. Knowing you’ll look good on the mountain top doesn’t mean you’re ready for the journey. Having the charisma of mountaintopper means nothing if you don’t have the integrity of a journeyer. I was not ready for the trip up. I would have to stop every 2O paces or so to catch my breath. This slowed the whole group down. Eventually they all went ahead, I slowly made the summit…45 minutes behind the group. Thank God for their patience and the graciousness of the guy I was living with to come back down to guide me up.
- There is something new around every corner. No matter what corner I turned I never found what I expected. Even though it was rocks at every turn it was always a different rock. We may face things that are the same at face value, but they are an entirely new set of circumstances. Instead of going up the mountain saying “Great! More rocks”, we can say “Great! New rocks”. We have to understand that no matter how we look at it our perspective has changed. We are further along than we were yesterday. If we don’t allow our perspective to change according to where God is taking us then we are living in the past.
- Keep eye on the trail in front of you. Sometimes you have to put your head down and just watch the trail. Sometimes you have to look up to the goal to remind yourself why you are going the direction you’re going. We can get so focused on the summit that it seems impossible to get to, no matter how long we walk it is still so far up there. Likewise we can get so focused on the trail that it seems wherever we’re going we’re never getting there, no matter how long we walk the trail never ends. We have to keep the balance of keeping our eye on the goal and on the trail. That we are on this trail for a reason not just to be walking. Remember why you’re on the trail, while keeping in mind that you have not arrived.
These are the few that I wrote down. If we just keep in mind that the journey is just as important and the destination, I think we’ll make it there without killing ourselves. I learned so much that day. There was a point where I faced the decision to continue or to turn around, I decided not to quit and will never regret it.. Even though its was one of the most physically difficult things I’ve done, it is something I long to do again. Though next time I will prepare myself.