It’s crazy to think that just this past Sunday, I was standing at Everest Base Camp. At roughly 18,000 feet, me, Will Patton, just a midwest boy with no hiking experience, struggling to fight altitude sickness, fighting for my legs to keep on moving, stood on top of the world (well, not really, but you get the picture!). But to get to that moment, to get to that place, it took a long and tiresome 8 days. And during those 8 days, God and I had a heart to heart, a real conversation, a talk that was filled with conviction, humility, and grace.
We started off by flying from Kathmandu to Lukla. After we had lunch, we started our trek about mid afternoon. The weather was perfect and the sunshine had us stripping layer after layer off. After about 3 hours of hiking (mostly down hill to believe it or not!), we arrived at our first stop, Phakding, where we would stay the night. It wasn’t until the next day, that the Lord and I began to converse.
We woke up the next morning, had breakfast, and set out for our next destination, Namche Bazaar. My thought was that this day will be similar to the previous day, but I was completely wrong. See, Phakding sits at 2,610m and Namche Bazaar sits at 3,440m. That’s over 800m (about 2600 feet) in elevation change! Every step I took, I could feel the burning pain in my legs, the air getting thinner, and my heart pounding in my chest. I had to take multiple breaks in order to catch my breath and motivate myself to keep going. And as I was falling more and more behind the group, that’s when God started talking.
You know the phrase, “No pain, no gain”? Well its often said when people are exercising and in order for them to become stronger and gain muscle, they have to go through some pains first. It’s also a phrase that is used for motivation and is applied to things other than just exercising. And as I was inching my way along the trail, that’s what I kept thinking about.
Well Will, no pain, no gain. I guess I’m going have to go through some physical pain in order to reach my goal of Everest Base Camp. And that’s when God stepped in.
Will, in order for you to continue to grow as my child, a follower, a believer, you have to go through some pains or hard times first.
Huh? God, what does that mean? I need to go through some pains? What pains? And as I continued to ponder this, I finally came to the conclusion of what the Lord was telling me.
Will, you need to be more vulnerable.
Okay, God, yes, vulnerability has been a huge part of this World Race. And I have been growing in that area. But as I continued to reflect on what God was telling me, I kept thinking of how vulnerable I have been. Have I really been vulnerable, or have I just been skirting around the word?
As I continued to move up the mountain with every painful step I took, I reflected on vulnerability. I kept asking myself, who’s the real William James Patton? And so to use the phrase “Lead with vulnerability”, as we’ve said multiple times on the race, that’s what I’m going do. The things I’m about to say are going to be hard and painful, but that’s what God wants. He wants me to be vulnerable because He has been vulnerable with us. And in order for me to take that next step, to grow as a follower of Christ, to be able to look at life after the race, I need to bring things to light, to be open, transparent, and vulnerable.
So here it goes. The real, raw, and vulnerable Will.
Stay tuned for Everest Trek Part 2: The Silent Addiction of Today’s Youth
