As Lauren got down and kissed the ground, I realized that I had just had my first epic. When we got up on that September day, the weather looked bleak. Dark clouds as far as the eye could see, only a couple thousand feet above us. We were in the Enchantment Lakes area of the Cascade Mountains near Leavenworth, WA. Our goal was to climb the South Face of Prusik Peak (Grade III, 5.9). Being only twenty-two years old, I was fully confident we could run up the route and back down before the clouds ripped open. Lauren, having less experience and using me for a rope gun, reluctantly agreed with my optimistic choice.
Quickly, we readied ourselves for the short walk from our camp to the base of the route. At the base, the clouds began to thicken but I had no thought of bailing. After an opening hard 5.8 chimney, the climbing eased back. We were making good time, and the clouds still were holding the rain.
After several hundred feet of climbing, we arrived at the base of the last pitch, the crux of the route. It is a beautiful, nearly vertical 100-foot, 5.9 pitch. The kind of climbing I love to do! I began up the pitch and the unthinkable happened. It began to rain with great intensity.
We were over 8000 feet. The temperature was in the thirties. We put on what clothes we had. I was too poor to afford a Gore-Tex jacket. In a matter of minutes, I was soaked through. Good thing, I had some wool on. (For those brought up on modern gear, this is what we once wore to keep us warm while wet.)
Our only option was to rappel. Having a 150-foot rope, the standard at the time, it was going to take us many raps to get off. On our right was break in the face with ledges and many trees. We slammed in an anchor of pieces were willing to leave behind and started down. With numb hands and hypothermia a real possibility, we carefully but quickly descended.
Our second to last rappel brought us back into the chimney where we had started. Standing on a chock stone, we pulled the rope. Oh, no! The rope was stuck twenty feet above. No matter how hard we pulled, the rope wouldn’t budge. The sides of the chimney were dripping, so our only option was to hand-over-hand it up the stuck rope. Lauren looked at his rope gun, said, “your lead” and belayed me using the other end of the rope. The climbing back up was without any protection on an rope that wasn’t anchored was unnerving. When I arrived at the ledge where the rope was stuck, I was scared spit-less. I slammed in an anchor and rapped back down to Lauren. We pull the rope, threaded it and gave it a toss. We rejoiced as the ends of the rope touch the ground!
Great epic! Tremendous adventure! But full of risk! As I have aged, taken on the responsibilities of a wife, children and a job, I have asked myself, “Should I take such risks?” This thought has caused me to dive into this topic.
On our website, we have this statement, “WARNING! Activities described and depicted within this site carry a significant risk of personal injury or death. Rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, and all other outdoor activities are dangerous.” As a Christian have you ever considered the ethics of taking a risk for your own personally enjoyment? Please join me in examining this question.
In the spring 1978, I took the Spokane Mountaineers Climbing School. Wow, the excitement and the thrill of learning how to climb. Oh, the danger of it all! I was drawn to the adventures that climbing promised. To hear the near death experiences of our instructors (I’m sure they embellished them!) as they calmly explained the climbing experience caused my heart to long for wild side of living.
Why was I attracted to climbing? Why are you? I believe one of the biggest draws by far is a little four-letter word, with a very big meaning, that word is RISK!
In our society, most of us are taught to do everything we can to reduce the element of danger in our lives. We have been taught the words quoted by Jesus, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Do you know how dangerous it is to drive or ride in a car? Your odds of dying in an automobile accident every year are 1 in 6700 (David Ropiek, Parade Magazine, March 30, 2003). Are you putting God to the test every time you get in a car? Ordinary living has risk. WHY? Because God designed the universe to be risky existence! God wanted life to have reality, and risk is what He placed in to bring reality into focus.
Here’s the key issue! Is risk by nature, by definition, good or bad? It would seem to me that most conclude that it is bad. What do people say when they are considering future direction? They say, “Let’s evaluate in terms of risk vs. reward.” But, what is the opposite of reward? The better way to is to evaluate the realistic, potential lost vs. realistic, potential reward.
In other words, the questions are, “If I took this path my, potential lost realistically could be?” and “However, if I took this path, my potential reward realistically could be?” Often, people equate risk with lost; that’s not enough! Paul Shultheis said, "Until you know the worst that could possibly happen and the best that could possibly happen... your equation is incomplete."
Helen Keller realized life without risk is an illusion. She said, "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure”.
If you have any doubts as to whether or not God embraces risks, consider and evaluate his creation! Look into the eyes of a thunderstorm, hurricane, tornado and blizzard, what do you see? Consider the force of a volcanic eruption, an earthquake or landslide, what do you sense? See the prowl of a tiger, the growl of a grizzly and sudden attack of a great white, what do you feel? Fear? Produce by danger, found in God’s creation. What is God’s evaluation of creation? It’s declared in Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
Whether you like it or not, the world that God created and that you live is not a place of security but a place of risk. But the great issue, the concept I want us to grasp is, “Why did God place risk our we world?”
Let’s consider the greatest risk every taken. Who took it? God! What was that risk? I would suggest it’s when He gave angels and men a free will. What was his realistic potential lost? Rejection of a relationship with Him. What was his realistic potential gain? Love and adoration freely expressed to Him! God’s gain was and is fellowship!
"Fellowship" is the English translation of words from the Hebrew with the stem of “hbr.” It is used to express ideas such as common or shared house. David often describe his relationship with God using the shared house concept. “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Psalms 27:4
In the Greek, fellowship stems “koin” as in Koinonia. Fellowship among believers is often thought of as Koinonia. More often it was Paul's favorite word to describe a believer's relationship with the risen Lord and the benefits of salvation through Him.
God demonstrated how important relationships are to Him in the parable of the lost sheep. Luke 15: 3-7 says, “Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
The shepherd was commended for seeking the lost one, while risking the 99 left behind. And what was the reaction once the lost was found? Rejoicing! God took the risk of giving man a free will so that a He might rejoice in a relationship with you. God took the biggest risk of all time so that He might find pleasure. And because of that we have the freedom to embrace Godly risk for our own enjoyment.
In Part 2, we consider what are “Godly risks” and how the sovereignty of God fits into all of this.
