Summit Ministries

By Sarah Stovall

One of the greatest things about being in Manitou Springs is the surroundings. It's this gorgeous landscape of mountains, red rocks and trees. I wish you all could see the morning fog as it wraps around the neighboring places. It is the essence of beauty.

For free time yesterday afternoon a group of five of my new girlfriends and I decided to hike Red Mountain, a trail a mile or two away from campus. Before I had come to Colorado, for my birthday my parents gave me a Camelback (a backpack with a water pouch for hiking and the like). I was excited to have to chance to use my new Camelback and offered to help out carrying my friends' things.

A while along, the weight of the Camelback became heavier. I wasn't used to the high altitude or steep terrain, and the extra weight started wearing on me. Meanwhile, it began to rain rather hard. So, even though we were maybe five minutes from the top, soaking wet, chilled by the breeze and tired from the hike--we decided to turn around before the trail got to muddy.

On the way back down, one of my trail mates asked if they could carry the Camelback for a while, to help share the load. From that point on it was much easier, and this hike got me thinking metaphorically.

Often, Christianity is likened to a mountain. God is at the top and if believers truly desire Him, they start to climb the mountain. This is all good, but what makes it difficult is ignorance. The less you know, the harder it is to find what you're looking for. It's like my backpack. At first my new Christian passion/zeal carried me up. But, the farther you go the more discipline it requires. Ignorance is the backpack weighing you down.

Not that having questions is a bad thing. It's good. In fact, some could say it is what makes us start climbing in the first place. That does not mean we should stay there, slavery to our lack of knowledge.

Many of us here have had friends or mentors who've come along beside us and helped us answer out questions, pointing us towards the right paths, lightening our load. My trail mate was that person by taking my load and freeing me up to think about other things besides my burden.

Summit is the ultimate enlightening. I, and I would reason all my friends agree, have gained so much insight, that the world suddenly seems less dark. I feel I know more about understanding it.

While I cannot claim my backpack is completely empty or that I am close to getting to the top at all, But my backpack is now equipped with use of tools, and in m head the power of knowledge for how to use them.

"For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him" Philippians 2:13