Mountains

I have seen the top of the world. It is a lonely frozen peak only a select few reach. Each year climber’s throw down $70K, acclimatize for 3 months, breathe supplemental oxygen, endure sub-zero conditions and if they are “lucky” celebrate for a brief 20 minutes upon the illustrious peak of Mt. Everest.

I have had this theme of mountains reoccur over the last year. I have always loved the mountains and prefer it to the ocean. We felt the Lord had us in a conditioning phase before our move to Africa to climb that “peak”. The Lord told Emie to “plant your flag in Africa before you go down”. I have been reading scriptures about mountains, watching moves about famous climbs. A friend gave me a book about climbing the 14 highest peaks in the world and said, “You need to read this.” The home we are staying at is located on the top of a mountain (we are the highest) and has a perfect view of one of Northwest’s largest peak.


The best part thus far is when my great friend Steve mentioned he was to climb Mt. Hood but his plans had fallen through due to his climbing partner being on his honeymoon. The weather was going to be perfect (at least on the forecast), the weekend available so I jumped on the opportunity and we went. Located in Oregon, Mt. Hood stands at 11,232ish feet it is not a technically difficult mountain to climb. Thousands of people climb Mt. Hood every year but 130 have lost their lives over the years.


We set off and arrived at Timberline Lodge around 8pm on Friday night. We climbed until 10pm and set up camp just above the last ski lift at 8800 ft. Sleep was limited as I dozed in and out of it. At 1am I thought we had missed our departure time of 3am and never really fell back to sleep. Finally we were out of the tent with crampons and axe in hand. About 40 minutes into the climb we ran into a group of 15 coming down the mountain. They were concerned the electrical storm in the distance was going to engulf the mountain leaving no visibility for a descent and some shock. Steve and I discussed that we would climb a little and assess the storm as we went. As it turned out the storm went right around the mountain leaving it clear and perfect for us. We later saw the same team coming back up the mountain.


We summited at 5:30am to a glorious sunrise and hollowing winds. After our celebration cookie and a few photos we still had to complete the second part of the climb, the descent. This is where most climbers fail and accidents happen. They get lazy, tired and make dumb decisions. We had an uneventful decent and made it back to the car at 8am. After 5.5 hours of climbing and a sleepless night I had conquered a dream and created an addiction. Goemans says, “Dreams are not made to put us to sleep, but to awaken us.”

(me on the last 100 feet to the summit)

I am still not sure what the Lord is attempting to communicate through the mountain theme but I do feel as if we are conditioning for another ascent. Until we summit and the wind blows anew we will keep putting one foot in front of the other and hold onto the promises of God.
On a mission trip to Nepal years ago we flew by Mt. Everest. I have seen the top of the world and one day I hope to stand there.
Blessings and . . . when is the next one Steve?
Heath