View from the Top

There is something to be said about the view from the top.  The picture at right is the view of the next summit to the absolute top of the mountain my wife, 8 yr old son (soon to be 9) and myself climbed on Memorial Day.  It took us 3 hours to reach the top and we still had at least another 15 - 20 minutes to reach the tip top.  We stopped where we were.

It is interesting to note that as we kept climbing higher and still were not seeing an end in sight we would ask climbers that were coming down a question.  Can you guess what that question was?  "How much further to the top?"  Yup you guessed it we were just over two hours into the hike/climb and we were getting discouraged.

 

Here is a view from the top of the false summit.  It was awesome and we were glad we completed the climb.Even though we were very exhausted.  This was not the top yet.  Here is what we kept hearing from everyone on the way up.  "Keep going", "Only a 40 minutes more", "The view is worth the trip", "You only have about another 15 - 20 minutes to go", "You will love the view".  All of that can be considered one of two ways: Peer pressure, or Encouragement.  I took it as encouragement at the time.  So did my family.  We figured we could go an hour more and then we would probably start down.  Did I mention we were exhausted at this point.  And we still had to come down.  So we got to the false summit that people warned us about and enjoyed the view.

Then we started up further to see the top and its wonderful view.  There is something to be said about climbing out of the trees and seeing the top of the mountain and turning around to see the view that it affords.  It was breathtaking as my wife put it.  It was awe inspiring.  Once my son got to see the top he wanted to see more.  Did I mention that we were exhausted and that this was a 3 mile hike, one way!  This view to the right is from the summit, before you go to the tip top.  I did mention that we never made it to the tip top.

All in all we were glad to complete the hike and see the awesome view.  Even if it took us 2 hours to come back down.  Even if we forgot to bring water and snacks.  Even if every muscle in our bodies hurt when we were done.  It was a wonderful view, an awesome view and we had a great time all in all.  Next time I would plan better.  But I would still want to reach the top.  I enjoy completing things I set out to do.  It is a part of life and I want to keep doing that as much as humanly possible.

So GOD does the same thing for us.  He keeps saying, "Keeping going it is worth the trip.", "Don't give up, just a little bit further.", "You can do it.  The view is worth it."  GOD may give us some difficult things to do, which someone said is not nice, but he always gives us what we can handle and he gives us the tools to handle it.  We are never given more than we can handle from GOD.  It is always what we can do and sometimes we make choices that we think we can not do.  Sometimes that is true, we can not handle it, not alone that is.  Sometimes we need someone to come along side and say "The water is just ahead, or the top is just a little further up.  Don't give up.  You can do it."

So remember the view from the top is worth it.  You can do it.  And when you think you can not, remember that GOD will help you.  A.S.A.P. - Always Say A Prayer.