Mountain Rescue

​In the first decade of this millennium, I had developed a love for rock climbing. It was exhilarating to climb up the walls of rock, to see views that few had seen. Every time we would go on a long climb we would plan ahead for it. I had several climbing guidebooks, that would describe the routes and how to get up them. One particular day my two friends and I decide to climb a popular old route on the prominent face of mount Yamnuska, a peak visible from the Hwy as you would drive into the Canadian Rockies nearing Banff national park, in Alberta Canada. The route was not a particularly hard climb, however, it did have its dangers as it was covered in loose rock, and so a repelling decent was not possible. The level of difficulty was easily within our climbing abilities, and my two friends were both better climbers and had more experience than I.  As we enjoyed the relaxed climb and light pace we noticed that there was a party of two a few hundred feet above us. We thought nothing of it but quickly caught up to them. Several times we had to wait for them, but we were in no rush. After about 800 ft, we realized that the team above us was stuck. There was no way they could get up the hardest part of the route (known as the crux). The guy trying to lead it was getting frustrated and was swearing due to fatigue and I am sure fear. No one wants to be stuck 800 feet off the ground with no way down. My friend jumped up the wall, making it look easy and then I and our other friend followed. We left a rope for them and were able to pull them off of the climb. I remember as I belayed them up the chimney several times having to pull with all my might just to get them up the climb. There was no way they would have made it up. Later we found out that several people had been rescued off of this particular climb. To say the least, the two men, were very thankful we were climbing there that day. In listening to their story, they told us that they had decided last minute to get on the climb, and with little to no planning figured that it was within their abilities.

This is how goals work. If you jump in without preparation you can get in trouble and think that there is no way you can accomplish them. However, with a little planning, you can take on even the toughest of challenges. 

This is true if your goal is something as hard as quitting smoking, or as easy as setting a goal to run a half marathon. I say easy, not because running that distance is easy. But if you plan and prepare, even the hardest challenges become manageable. 

Read: Philippians 4: 8-13 today, yes you read it on Monday, but read it again.  

Journal: Why is it that Paul connects verses 8 and 9 with verse 13? Is there a connection between focusing on good things and accomplishing good things? Over the last two days, we have been focusing on your goal list. Look over that list again. Today you need to categorize your goals into three categories. 
1.  Weekly goals. (goals you need to accomplish within the week or weekly.)
2. Short range goals. (Goals you will try to accomplish within the next 3 months or so)
3. Long range goals (Goals you will accomplish withing a period of months to years)
To categories these you could highlight these with different colors, or right codes next to them like LT for long term or W for weekly.

Pray: That God will equip you with the right heart to achieve your goals. Pray that you can have the focus to plan out your goals. Ask God to align your goals with His plans for your life. Pray through Jeremiah 29:11-13