The Summit
Left, right; left, right. That’s what I have to continually tell myself. The path is nowhere to be seen. Only 1400’ to go before I reach the top; now 1300’, 1200’, then 1200’. Wait what? I didn’t gain any ground; in fact, I am now standing still looking up at a cliff that’s 300’ tall. How am I supposed to reach the top now? I can’t go around it. I must face this giant obstacle that stands before me now. So I begin to climb up, finding handholds and footholds and just when I think that I am making some ground. Crack! My left hand is slipping, immediately my right hand begins to slip and I begin to fall backwards. All the way back down to the base of the cliff I fall. As I am falling, time begins to slow down and I start thinking ‘this is it. I am done. I won’t ever be able to see the view from the top of the mountain.’ Suddenly time jumps forward and just when I think I should smack the rock below me, I feel the strong arms of my Lord catch me. What have I done? I was trying to climb by myself; I had completely forgotten that the Lord my God was right beside me the whole time. So I begin to cry out to Him, and He simply says “Follow me.” Then He proceeds to tie one end of a rope around Himself and the other end around me. He slowly climbs up the side of the mountain as I follow Him up. Wherever He placed His left hand there I placed mine, upwards and upwards we climbed. Finally, we reached the top. 900’. Wait, there’s still more of the mountain peak to summit. As we begin to ascend the final 900’, I begin to look around and I see a sign up ahead. I can’t make out what is says, but as we near it I see that it’s a picture of my friends. Then I look up again and it’s a picture of my family, and after that another picture of my friends and so on. 100’. We are so close now, there’s just one last picture before me—my parents. Then I realized the Lord my God had gone before me and had placed these pictures all the way up the last 900’ of the summit. He was allowing me to slowly say my goodbyes, and see you laters, and I love yous. And as I passed that last picture I finally saw it—the view.
