Everest

I saw on the news yesterday that two people have died on Mt. Everest.  Both seem to have passed after reaching the summit and descending.  Of course, I would not summit Everest on my own choosing.  Mountaintops have no hold on me.

It is not the doing of the deed, but the need of the deed, that makes priorities in life.  I don't understand what makes it a priority to learn the skills, spend the extraordinary money required, and take the time to go to a place that is close enough to outer space to be deadly.  But, I don't have to.  I have my own Everest's.  I have my own need for certain deeds.

The fact that they died is what makes it newsworthy, I suppose.  It would seem a better story to talk about the number that made it.  While the caution of the spectacular nature of some failures is instructive, life lived within the bonds of fear, is not life.  Unwilling souls, set for timidity, never rise beyond themselves.  In fact, they most often fail to find even their own self, and that is truly a pitiable life.

Everyone has their own Everest.  In fact, our life is a series of Everest's, each just larger than the last.  And they all have the same rules as the actual Everest.  There is only one summit, whatever route you take to get to it.  There are seasons to reach the goal.  You will not make it outside of the favorable season, regardless of route.  There are necessities to have to get to the summit.  Without them, regardless of effort, it won't happen.

But, the news story this morning had a different meaning.  This is all analogy and metaphor.  That is what Everest is, really.  As a destination, it is inhospitable, devoid of life, and unsustainable.  There is nothing there, to be found, that makes the journey worthwhile.  What makes the journey worthwhile is inside of us.

You don't have to go to Everest, to climb your tallest mountain.  And, while I wish them peace, and have no disrespect for the departed, no one wants to believe they didn't make it.  Getting somewhere, without returning, is an incomplete journey, by most of the metrics of our everyday world.  We struggle, or at least contend with things, and only count it as complete when done.  Everest is complete when you are back at base camp.  A moon landing is only successful when the astronauts return to Earth, right?

I certainly have that mindset.  It would not be a successful trip, if I did not return home.  That is my limitation.  Through that vantage, those two poor souls are lost forever in between.  It struck me when I saw the story, do they know they didn't make it home?  Does it matter to them?

That last question was the important one.  I have plenty of mountains to climb.  We all do.  Every Monday represents base camp looking up to the top, in its own way.  The need for the deed is what makes us all different.  I ask myself, could I die happy, halfway down from the mountain top?

Then, the idiocy of that question strikes me.  If I am truly a man of faith, then of course, I should die happy at whatever point in the journey I go.  The goal is God, not a long life.  If I was inches from the summit, it is still preferable to be in the presence of God.  That journey, that mountain, is what I want to reach, my summit.

So, then, what of our metaphor?  What of the mystery and allure of the mountain, or the headwaters of a tropical river, or the Cibola that enchants us?  If there is not a final state here on earth, why make the effort?  That trips up so many people that do not profess a faith.  If the "afterlife" is so much better, why work here?  What is the point, when it is nothing compared to later?  Why would any being that loves us, let us toil here instead of just being there, in perfection with him?

This is a relatively easy question for me to answer, but not for most.  I am under no illusions as to anything close to fairness or equity in the world we inhabit.  Nor are we promised anything but trials and persecution here.  I don't expect a fair deal, and I have never received one from the world at large.  And, that, in and of itself, is enough to motivate me.  Perhaps not everyone, but I find, when challenged, that I am ready and able to respond.

The struggle today, whatever gains or losses I make, is enough for me.  If I don't win, I am going to at least fight with every bit of strength and determination inside of me.  I will never simply submit to that which I can change.  The flame burns even brighter, the deeper the ditch gets.  I understand that not everyone is like that.

But, if you have your own personal Everest in front of you, you really have a decision to make.  You get to decide the attempt itself is enough, or that getting to the peak is enough, or making it back to base camp is all that will satisfy you.  That internal decision is only known to you.  Of course you can share it, but only you know the truth to the lie.  "I'll be fine if I just get to try!"  Maybe.  I can't say for you.

None of those decisions are wrong, either.  All that is right, is that you are true to your own core.  But, I think there are some instructions for each of us.  I think you have to at least make the decision and know what your prize is.  If you do not decide, you are tepid, devoid of direction internally.  If you have no goal, you have no barometer, how can you be happy or sad?  If you leave the rudder off the ship, you can hardly complain as to the destination.

Phillipians 3:14 says "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  There is a prize.  There is a goal.  There is a decision.  Even more daunting than Everest, which is actually doable, it is outside of our own efforts to achieve.  We need the grace of the Lord, which we have to accept.  If we do not accept that goal, we are tepid, lukewarm.  And because we are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, we will be spit out.

There are several Everest's in front of me this morning.  And, while I will never be able to be cold, dispassionately focused with Vulcan-like clarity, I am also never able to be lukewarm.  I am burning to get to the goal I have set.  I understand that this is but a vapor in the wind, but I surely want it to be a pleasing vapor.  It would suck if my speck of physical eternity was just a foul odor at the end.  You get to decide.

We are about to embark on large tasks, great new vistas, brand new mountains.  We have targets, goals.  But, the journey is going to be enough.  Not that I won't fight with everything in me to get to the end in mind, but giving it the effort Jesus expects is enough for me.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse to have never tried to succeed."

I come back to those two pieces of advice that Theodore Roosevelt left to posterity.  It has always resonated with me.  I do not want to ever be a cold or timid soul.  I err, I come up short, again and again.  It is hard to fail, but to know great enthusiasm and great devotion, you have to risk, at the worst, failing while daring greatly.

I want to dare greatly.  Of course, there is fear and trepidation, but it does not overcome wanting to go forward.  That can be true for each of us.  And, no one knows your individual Everest in front of you.  It could be as simple as getting out of bed and getting dressed for the day.  I know the burden of life can leave you in that ditch.  But, we can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens us.

As for me, I am fine, passing on, at whatever point I get to on the mountain.  Understand, if it happens after what you think is the peak, I am only climbing back down that mountain so I can get to the next one that is taller.  Everest has no allure to me, but, I do have a mountain to summit that I have not yet conquered.  We all do.  Don't wait.  Don't be lukewarm.  Even if there is a chance for it all to go wrong, even if it mean risking everything, if it is the right thing, there is no other good choice but to climb.  I will not be a cold and timid soul, not this morning, or any morning.

Everest means not being lukewarm.  That is a worthy goal.  What is your Everest today?  I am praying that we reach the summit of our mountains, and I hope you pray the same.

GLYASDI