Climbing a Mountain

Hiking is an excellent time for prayer.

By Blake Reid, 14

Categories: Health

Last summer, I went to a camp in Colorado. There are many programs to choose from: Corral, Rafting, Mountain Biking, and my group, Mosaics. Mosaics is where you do a little bit of everything -- mountain biking, caving, rafting, etc. But one thing that all the groups have in common is the 4-day. The 4 day is nothing but living in the great outdoors -- no time, no electricity, and no shelter.

From the beginning of the first day, I wasn't feeling very well. After about the first mile of hiking, I told myself that I couldn't do this, and the rest of the day only got worse. We hiked from morning to night. I was even more discouraged by the fact that we were told that the next day would be even longer, farther, and more difficult. The counselors told us that we would be going to bed extremely early. We were told later that we went to bed at 5:00 p.m. This was because we were starting the ever-famous peeking of a mountain. Our mountain was 14,000 feet.

We were woken up at 12:00 a.m., in the middle of the night, to take down camp and get ready for the peak. In my mind, there was no way I could accomplish climbing the mountain, especially in the bitter cold. I had never done anything like it before, and I didn't feel prepared. We started to head off in the dead of night to Mount Huron. After about three hours, I was at the point of exhaustion, and I was freezing.

I started to think of anything, anything that could maybe inspire me in the slightest, and the thought came to me about the journey of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. I thought of all the challenges and fear they had to face, all the dark nights and the scalding hot days, all the pressure that was on them.

Their strength, courage, and determination encouraged the smallest bit of strength in me, and I was able to make it through the other three hours. With the help of a friend and Mary and Joseph's story, I made it to the top of the mountain and looked down at Colorado's sunrise at 6:00 a.m., 14,000 feet high.