THEY DARED DENALI
Jake, Andreas, and myself just stared at Kevin. We had heard the story a thousand times but it seems we all got it wrong. And so Kevin decided he would start writing down his adventures in a journal that would eventually would be given to Jake. It was this story that had me at the edge of my seat. Although the magazine has all the details of the event, it was his journal that I gleaned the real story….The planes had left the climbers at the foot of Denali…It had suddenly become eerily quiet. The clouds had lifted and they were seeing the mountain , the immense mountain, for what it really was. Fear gripped the hearts of them all. For the first time Kevin wasn’t sure he was going to come out of this climb alive…and that was almost true. What was supposed to be a two week expedition turned into four weeks. True to the reputation of Denali, the weather had turned to a treacherously dangerous monster. One of the climbers was near death. Most of the climbers had lost their tents. Kevin and another climber, Weaver, were the ONLY ones who could get a rescue team sent, including a helicopter, the first ever at 17,000 feet. With only a candy bar to eat, they started the climb downwards in a blinding storm. Twelve hours later, having almost been blown off the mountain, they were only halfway down. How could they carry on? Some of you have been there in your own life. Your business was lost, your engagement was called off, your loved one is on hospice, you had another miscarriage, your marriage is hanging on by only a thread. How do you go forward? Motivated by the lives that would be lost, Kevin and Weaver did get to base camp, a day and a half later, crawling in, and was able to get a rescue team sent, just in time. Years later, when Kevin has reflected on this moment, he said he now knows that it was God who saved them and the others. He had felt His presence throughout the ordeal. He wasn’t a religious person but he knew someone greater than himself had his hand on his life. How about you? Did you know that God is right there, waiting for you to call out to Him…your rescuer, your Savior? No matter your circumstances, He can and will, rescue you to the life, the path, you were meant to have….no mountain, not even Denali, can stop God. Kevin may not have known God’s name but God knew him…Reach out to God now and see just what adventures He has for your life…