Looking for Adventure?
The Adventure
“Because it is there.”
These words are attributed to English climber George Mallory in 1924. He was asked why, after two failures of reaching Mount Everest’s summit, he was attempting a third go. Some may think that such a response to be glib or arrogant, a sort of nonchalance – as if saying, “I have nothing else to do so, I guess I’ll climb Mount Everest.” yawn. “Tea? One lump or two?” But in light of this being his third attempt, I doubt that was his posture. IT IS THERE! The daunting reality of my nemesis. The existence of a conquest not realized. A singular point of focus to pursue as the ultimate prize. It is there.
But what is IT? For Mallory, it was Everest, the highest summit on Earth which he had yet to conquer. What is IT for you? It burns in us. There is that something – a dream – a prophecy – an idea, outlandish maybe, but it is there. To...start your own business? Choose to start a family and say, “yes!”, to your husband that now is the time? Run for school board? It is a challenge to be accepted. It is a dream to be realized. It is that tickle in the back of your mind that you continually ask yourself, “Is that you, Lord?” IT awaits you. IT is your grand adventure. It is your great quest, because you are the hero in your tale.
And the hero said, “To be or not to be”, but is that really the question?
Does it really depend on what the definition of is, is? Not a hero.
Listen friends. It is... what it is!
Everest was made. Made by God. How about you? You were made, by God as well. Both mountain and man were made by God. God revealed Himself as I AM. So you...simply...are. And inside you, inside each one of us, is the created hunger to conquer an Everest. Its insatiable. For Mallory Mount McKinley wouldn’t do, nor Kilimanjaro, nor Fuji. But not because they were smaller or nearer or less extreme. They were just simply not his IT.
Location, location, location.
Mallory wasn’t thinking about pie in the sky, although he was planning on going way up there. But his feet were still planted solidly on the ground...at 31,000 feet! We discover our Everest as we discover ourselves. Right here. Right now. Evaluating the here and now matches the man to the mountain. And God meets us THERE. Elijah was in a cave on a mountain when he heard a still small voice. It is that voice that calls us upward. Imagine his surprise when his terror of Jezebel turned to excitement of her fall and his conquest. The exhilaration of life itself is the journey from here to there. Embracing the hope of achievement is the first step. Because it is there, I can reach the summit. If it were not, I could not. I can. You can. We can. Together!