Each morning, my husband brings me a cup of coffee upstairs while I’m getting ready for the day, and we chat about stories or trivia he reads online. Yesterday, he shared that a Nepalese man has set the record for the fastest ascent of Mount Everest.
Mount Everest is a peak in the Himalayan mountain range and is located between Nepal and Tibet. At 29,032 feet, it’s the tallest mountain on Earth. The man, who normally guides others to the summit as a Sherpa, left from a base camp at about 17,000 feet and made it to the top in 10 hours and 56 minutes. (To put it into perspective, most climbers take four days to go the same distance.)
“Climbing Everest requires a lot of experience mountaineering elsewhere, as well as a certificate of good health, equipment, and a trained Nepalese guide,” according to National Geographic. “The snow and ice on the mountain create deadly hazards like avalanches, and there is only a limited climbing season due to bad weather conditions. But perhaps the biggest danger is the altitude. Most climbers are not accustomed to the high altitude and low oxygen levels and rely on bottled oxygen they bring along.”
As I sipped my coffee, I thought that climbing Mount Everest is not for the faint of heart. To attain the prize that so few ever accomplish takes a lot of self-discipline and training. But, I pondered, so does living the life of a Christian.
I Corinthians 9:24-25 (NIV)
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
Perhaps, like me, you’ll never climb Mount Everest. But, if we obey God’s will and run our race with self-discipline and training, our reward will be greater than we can imagine.
Be encouraged.
Our reward of eternal life is greater than we can imagine already; but ,oh, the joy to have a gift of a life of faithfulness to lay at our Savior’s feet!