Climbing Each Day

"I have learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it." - Unknown

Everyday can seem like we are climbing a rock face. Pushing ourselves to get to the next rock ledge only to find another shear wall to climb again. We struggle and sometimes catch ourselves wondering if it is worth all of the effort.

Many will discontinue the climb.

These are the people who set up permanent residence on rock ledge, limiting the movement they can make in any direction. The rock ledge is small and doesn't provide much space to grow.

Many will climb back down.

They resign themselves to never see the amazing view of their dreams. The bottom seems safe and secure, but very little light reaches those areas. Your vision is confined to short distances, never to see the horizon.

But there are those who continue the climb.

Facing the daily grind and change in direction of the climb, difficulty is expected but also part of the adventure. These people know what awaits them. In fact the higher you get, you get greater glimpses of it. When we reach the top, we are rewarded with a view so wonderful and great.

The view lets you see other mountains to conquer, new dreams, new goals.

Continue each day to push onward and upward. There will be setbacks along the way, but the outcome will be fantastic. You have the abiity inside to complete the climb. Once you arrive at your dream, you will wonder why you ever doubted yourself.

Stay inspired my friends.

Overcome To Achieve Greatness

"For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So here I am, currently flying at 36,000 feet in a Delta 757 airplane, writing and making my way to Seattle. The landscape below me is much too far away for me to discern anything other than a few roads, mountains or fields.

If I look really hard though, I can pick out certain things such as certain large bodies of water or rivers famous to all. The most famous of course being the Mississippi River and as we passed over the Great Salt Lake. All look small and rather insignificant from such a long distance.

Even the Rockie Mountains and the Cascades look tame from such a far distance. They appear to be mere road bumps on our way to a destination. The goals we set for ourselves are at the end of that journey. Our destination looks easy from a distance.

While the distance seems to be much too far, the obstacles do not look all that intimidating. But as we get closer. As we come in with the distance being shorter, those obstacles all of a sudden get bigger. As we see them grow taller and wider, the mountains tops are greater and the rivers much broader than we expected.

It is at this point we might become discouraged. It is at this point many people may quit. What it reminds me of are the pioneers that made their way across the the great plains. These brave souls had a goal in mind and that was to find the west coast, to find fortune in the California, to find new opportunity.

Can you imagine as they slowly made their way across the flat lands, the heat, the wind and everything else they had to endure. I imagine them getting well into the area we now know as Colorado, only to be greated by the peaks of the Rockie Mountains.

The discussions that must have taken place had to have been heated. How far would they have to go. Would they make it before the cold and snow of winter set it. Some people must have said forget it, we'll stay here and go no further. They gave up on their dreams and settled for what they had.

Others pushed on, seeing the mountain tops as gateways to their dreams. They didn't seem them as obstacles blocking their way. They knew to rise up to the top would allow them to see the destination even clearer.

Many of those people made it through, dreams fulfilled and greatness achieved. The mountains, the rivers, canyons, or wide lakes did nothing to deter them from grabbing hold of what they wanted.

You will have similar obstacles in life. There will be mountains to face and wide rivers to cross, but each can be overcome and they will be overcome. Keep reaching, keep moving forward and move those mountains, part those waters and reach your destination in life. I know you can.

Stay inspired my friends.

Climb a Mountain

"Big thinking precedes great achievement." -Wilferd A. Peterson

On June 7, 1913, Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, led the first successful ascent of Mt. McKinley, the highest point on the American continent. Located in the state of Alaska, the mountain's Athabascan Indian name is Denali, meaning "The High One." In 1896, it was renamed in honor of Senator William McKinley, who became president of the United States that year.

When they set foot on McKinley's south peak, considered the mountain's true summit, it was an achievement many thought unattainable. A member of the group, Robert Tatum later commented, "The view from the top of Mount McKinley is like looking out the windows of Heaven!" To achieve something so large took large thinking.

It took thinking beyond the word no. It took believing in themselves and in the possibility of something greater. It also took them seven and a half weeks to climb what amounts to fourteen Empire State Buildings. A total of 20,320 feet into the bluest reaches of the sky.

Nothing comes easy in life. To scale the highest mountains of your life, it can take time. But you can take an ordinary day like June 7 and turn it into a great achievement. It all starts with thinking big things for your life and then living your journey today.

Start dreaming of large mountains to climb and then start climbing. The top isn't nearly as far away as you think.

To Climb The Mountain

"To climb a mountain, you must first walk through a door of decision to climb it." -Joseph Primm

In the book CHANGED LIVES, Kristien talks about a life spiraling out of control. So many things had happened in his young life and he was allowing those circumstances to be his excuse.

Many people find that succumbing to circumstance is an easier route to take then overcoming. If we can blame it on something else, we feel it justifies our pain or guilt. Yet we only drive ourselves further into the ground.

As Kristien told me his story, I wondered how many 'bottoms' one could reach.

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One night, at my mother’s home, my brother was having a party. Naturally we were drunk as can be. I had started that morning with my brother. My mother was not amused by the party and started trying to talk some sense into a few of us. It escalated to an argument and I lost my mind.

I pulled a knife on my own mother. I started screaming while cutting myself and pointing the knife at her. Luckily my oldest brother was there to beat me down and take the knife away. I can still remember to this day the way I felt the next morning. I called my mom and apologized.

We talked it through a bit and we got a number for a psychiatrist from our pastor. This was one of the best things I could have done in my life.

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The process isn't simple and the set backs can be many. It is the choice to walk through the door that is the first step in climbing the mountain of change.

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