Touching the Void

I was flipping channels in early December and came across a movie on one of the independent film channels that I found hard to pass up. It was full of sweeping vistas of beautiful snow and ice covered mountains...completely awe inspiring stuff. I hit the info button and found that it was a movie called "Touching the Void" about two guys, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, 1985 attempt to summit the previously unclimbed west face of Suila Grande, a mountain in the Peruvian Andes. Two men, by themselves, attempting a route that had never been climbed before was pretty good stuff so I settled in for the duration.

I will not give away the story, but what unfolded was an incredible drama about the will of one man, overcoming insurmountable odds to survive. The strength of the human spirit on display in this movie is nothing short of miraculous, and in fact, were it not for Joe's self described atheism, I would have had to believe that no man could accomplish so much without the hand of God upon him. Truthfully though, what does his lack of belief do, but further the point that I felt was revealed to me. That being...


If the strength of the human spirit is so great, if our capacity to endure such depths is there, then how much more is possible through the Spirit of the Risen Lord. If we marvel at men and their accomplishments, how can we not be awed to the point of submission to the One who created that possibility in us. I remember a line from the movie Gettysburg, a favorite of mine, where Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels) quotes from Shakespeare's Hamlet..."What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god." If we can find such grandeur in man, such capacity for praise for something created, where is our sense of marvel at the Creator Himself?


There is a life that each of us has in front of us today. For some, the next steps will be easy, for others, we have more difficulty. But for all of us, no step should be taken without being filled by the indefatigable Spirit of God who is more than conquering, more than victorious. If I am capable...Then how much more so through Christ? And if that, then why would I rely on me at all? Therefore, He must increase and I must decrease. Through this, we become the fulfillment of His desire for our lives. Through this, there is nothing the world can lay before us that can break our stride.


"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set out before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2


I don't know about you, but I can't wait until I can run again!