The Pinnacle Point: Enduring to the End

Leather hiking boots sojourn up the face of the mountain. Breaths of thin mountain air alleviate gasping lungs. Aching feet cry for mercy as the trail continues onward. Anything less than a road less traveled is an understatement. Rays of golden sunlight innocently scorch white skin exposed for the fist time in months.

The road less traveled indeed! Onwardly marching, a gnarled old hiking stick provides some stability and creature comfort in an onward venture. Opposition comes in a wave of brambles, thorns, and the woodsman's all time nemesis, poison ivy.



The thicket clears, clouds enshroud the merciless sun. Your skin thanks the sun in undying gratitude! A loud triumphant shout musters from your panting lungs and somewhat stained vocal cords: hooray! You made it to the top of Mount Saint Helans!

Take a breath of that fresh pacific northwestern air, let the aromas of luscious Douglas furs and cascading waterfalls against lava rock fill your nostrils.

With much opposition comes great rewards.....

 

A man, born into a lowly and humbling birth in a a stable among unkept livestock and plow horses. The son of a carpenter, he built many things by the labor of His skilled hands. A teacher of many learned doctors, scholars, and priests. An outcast for his beliefs and teachings, about His Father in Heaven. A night of misery and atoning for all the sins and sorrows everyone in the world would ever ache. Betrayed, by one of His only confidants in which He called His apostle with the greatest token of love and friendship; a kiss. A king chosen to die as a real prisoner as the murder, Barabus chains and shackles released him. Whippings tearing tender flesh open to ooze blood over his body. A crown of thorns: a symbol of mockery to his kingship placed on his head. A cross draped over his shoulders that he would be crucified on. Rough iron nails hammered through the palms of his hands and his feet. Placement on the cross, the final step in this brutal process. "It is finished," the last utterance He would ever make on this earth.

The reward of His opposition, our salvation.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ = mountain climbing?


For real! Marked hiking paths, wilderness survival courses, supplies, leather boots, a compass, and a map. Looks like someone is set to tackle the world. All of these supplies and training sessions come from the ultimate benefactor, God the father. There is no way you could ever think to pay him back; on your own, you are completely unequipped, unskilled, and penniless. With God, you are everything.

An unfathomable price ransomed us from our personal transgressions. Look at all of the things that God provided you for the hike. There's no way to ever pay the father back for all of our quintessential blessings and supplies...what will you do with them?

Grace v. Works
So what's the right answer? Is your exaltation based on your works alone or the grace of Christ? Grace is the only way to go! God provided you all of the necessities and the tools to go hiking. God doesn't cover the rest after we try our best, covers all of it. He has our tab.  How are you going to show him you are grateful for his incredible gift? Hike!

Sharp thorns, brambles, and a touch of poison ivy are premeditate. What happens to you when in a bind? Do you give up after one stubbed toe? Do you dismay over the fact making it to the top of Mount Saint Healans takes more than ten steps? Keep trying!

You think you have this hike in the bag, but make a wrong turn. You say to yourself, "this won't happen again." You think you're on the straight and narrow and suddenly comes another wrong turn. Time after time this happens again, yet God still wants us to make it to the top.

 Triumphant sounds echo across the mountainside, adrenaline races through bulging veins. Whispers of wind dance cordially with locks of hair. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. His grace is sufficant, all you have to do is climb.

Keep Trekking