Staying up late doing some documentation for work one night, I perused our Netflix on-demand for some background entertainment. I wanted to find something that would keep me interested enought to stay awake, but wouldn't distract me too much from getting my work done. I came across Everest, a documentation series on the Discovery channel that follows an expedition group in their attempts to summit the highest point on earth.
I was absolutely hooked. All footage of this series was taken on the mountain, between cameras on the helmets of those attempting to suumit, and cameras at various base camps along the way. You see maps and diagrams of their route, graphs of weather trends, and statistics of injuries and death. You watch as the climbers become weaker and weaker with High Altitude Sickness, suffer frostbite, severe hypothermia, and even brain swelling. Some climbers make the summit; some have to turn around due to physical limitations, at times mere feet from the top.
As I listened in the background and glanced up time to time from my charting to follow the expedition, I found myself discovering all kinds of illustrations of God's grace though the documentary. In this blog entry, I'd like to talk about Sherpas.
Sherpas are Tibetans living in the Himalayas who specialize in guiding hikers throughout their expeditions. They are small, often described as "wirey," and they have abnormally strong hearts. These two things make them physically more advantaged to navigate the mountains that they live among. The less body mass a person has, the more able they are to carry themselves upwards. A stronger heart means they are able to tolerate the very low oxygen levels as found in higher altitudes, much more than the average person. This means that they are less prone to altitude sickness. They move faster and easier than anyone else. The Sherpas, quite literally, were created to live among these mountains. This makes me shake my head in amazement at God's perfect plan. It it no accident that a people who are native to their land are actually built to survive the extremes of their environment. God did that.
The Sherpas not only climb along with the hikers next to them, but they go ahead of them first to lay safety ropes and set up the next base camp with tents, food, oxygen, and other provisions. They are literally doing twice the work, to make things clear and safe for the hikers that will be climbing alongside them later.
Isn't this what Jesus has done? He has gone before us, here on earth, to pave the path that we should follow. He gave us His Word for guidance, to lay the ropes for us. He gave us the assurance that he has already walked the path in our shoes. And though He has already gone before us, He is coming back down to take us back up with Him. As I write, He is busy preparing our eternal Base Camp at the summit.
I had some stress-inducing meetings this week at work. I'm trying hard to not allow my anxiety to rule my thoughts and heart, but I'm finding this to be a difficult challenge. They've been my Everest. But one thing that has helped me has stemmed from something God taught me one evening in college.
It was my junior year at St Olaf, and on this particular Monday night, it was the eve of my first clinical experience in a hospital (I was going to school for nursing). I was so full of anxiety. I wasn't necessarily worried I would mess up badly or hurt anyone; I just didn't know what lay ahead. I didn't know what the precepting nurse would be like. I didn't know if my patient would like me. I didn't know where anything was on the unit. It was just simply a big day with a lot of unknowns, and it would be a long day starting with getting up at 5am for the morning commute. I sat in the back stairwell, one of the quieter places in my dorm, and prayed. But truthfully, worried more than prayed. After a while of quietly fretting, I had a sudden vision. A blip, it was so fast. It was a vision of a huge pair of arms, which I understood to be God's, and he was holding the hospital I would be working at the next day. and I understood. In an instant, I understood God to be telling me that He is already there. He will be with me as I get ready to leave, and He will be there waiting for me when I arrive. He will be with me the whole day. He will be with my patient, my precepting nurse, and in the supply closet I'd get lost finding. And I found peace.
So before I have something anxiety-producing, I remember God's teaching to me, and thank Him for going before me. He's already in that meeting room, He's with the people in it, He knows the agenda, He knows the outcome, and He loves me.
Thank you, Jesus, for being my Sherpa; for laying the ropes for my path, going ahead of me, going beside me, and coming back for me. Amen!
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