Stepping into the New Year by: W. Lee Warren, MD

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 3:13-14)

Breathe, step, rest. Breathe, step, rest. My heart was pounding, breathing was very difficult as I tried to convince myself to keep going. Lisa and I were climbing in knee-deep snow up the pass between two 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado’s front range. Living in Alabama at 250 feet above sea level, the work of breathing the thin air at 11,500 feet was difficult enough. But crunching through snow, carrying a 40-pound pack, and trying not to fall down the mountain combined to make it one of the more challenging physical activities we had ever encountered.

The biggest problem was that we were already tired. A small navigational error had led us down the wrong path earlier in the day and we ended up climbing a very difficult 40-degree slope to about 12,200’ before we realized that we were on the wrong mountain! We backtracked and found the right trail, about the time I realized that somewhere along the way I had lost my cell phone.

After losing an hour and regaining the 1,000 of elevation we’d lost on the wrong trail, we were sucking wind and losing heart. Breathe, step, rest. I started asking myself what I was doing here. Why wasn’t I on a beach somewhere? Looking up the valley toward the saddle connecting Gray’s Peak to Torrey’s Peak, it seemed impossible to make it there. We were discouraged from losing time and energy from a silly mistake, and I was trying to think of how I was going to get all those phone numbers back I had now lost on the mountain. My mind was racing as fast as my heart. Lisa was trucking along with me, fighting her own battle. I had read before and was now experiencing that you might be next to your partner, but you climb a mountain alone. You have to will yourself to take every step.

As we climbed on, I found myself setting small goals: 25 more steps, then I’ll rest for 30 seconds. Or, 50 more steps and I’ll take a drink of water. We reached a very steep portion of the path, gaining each step by following someone else’s footprints in the snow. The altimeter read 13, 600 as we topped the ridge and turned left toward the summit of our goal, Gray’s Peak. Just then, the wind picked up to about 30 miles per hour. For the first time all day, we added cold to the problem. The wind sliced through us, chilling us to the bone and crushing our spirits. I was done.

I was recounting all the problems I was going to have recovering business contacts that were in my phone, grumbling over the fact that we would already be on our way down if we hadn’t gotten lost, and unhappy about the arrival of the freezing wind. My mind was full of all the reasons I couldn’t go on. I told Lisa I thought we should go down. She said, “Let’s just go a little further and see how we feel.”

At that moment, I remembered the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 3- “forget what is behind… press on toward the goal.” I said a little prayer and tried to focus on the remaining climb. We started up the summit ridge, and I almost fell once as snow collapsed under my boot. There were good steps from previous climbers, giving us footholds with less effort than crunching them down ourselves. 14,000 feet. 270 to go.

The wind died down, our hearts strengthened, and our resolve returned. Lisa took my hand as we stepped over the top of the ridge and walked onto the summit together. 14, 270 feet. We made it. The view from the top was spectacular.

That experience made me realize how many ‘mountains’ in our lives we fail to summit because we can’t get the past out of our heads. When faced with a problem or challenge we let past failures, troubles or sorrows hold us back. And when we do, we miss the amazing things God wants us to experience from the summit of the mountain in front of us.

Clear your head. Stop thinking about the past, because you can’t do anything about it now. But the challenge in front of you is there for a reason, and you cannot make it if you’re looking backwards. Breathe, step, rest. Before you know it, you’ll be on top of the mountain, and God will again prove his word to be true- the prize is worth the struggle.

As we begin 2010, all of us have a new mountain of opportunity in front of us. With God’s help, we can overcome the obstacles of life and finish this year at the summit of His plan for our lives. We pray that 2010 will be an amazing year for you, and that the Lord brings you peace, happiness, and strength for the journey He has planned for you.