Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“James Whitaker was the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest. His journey to the 29,000 ft. peak lead him through avalanches, dehydration, physical fatigue, and mental exhaustion. Most who dared to attempt the climb before him failed, but he succeeded. And when asked about it he said, “You don’t really conquer Everest, you conquer yourself. You’ll overcome the sickness and everything else, pains, aches, fears, to reach the summit.
I’m Mark Evans, pastor of the Church of Rock Creek. You know, don’t lose sight of the fact that the journey to the top starts inside of you. All of us have an Everest. There’s a mountain that has hung out in the distance for most of our life that’s calling us to take it on. Maybe it’s a business you’ve always dreamed about starting or a book you wanted to write. Maybe it’s a skill that you wanted to acquire. That trip that you’ve talked about for years. You decide you want to spend your days doing something meaningful, something beyond just earning a paycheck. Like the mountain itself, our own personal Everest is intimidating because we could fail.
We can think of a hundred reason why we shouldn’t do it, or why we shouldn’t even attempt it. But day after day, our Everest is still there. You keep thinking about it. I always say if you can stop thinking about it, don’t stop working on it. You won’t accomplish it in a day, probably not even a month or a year. You might fail once, you might fail a hundred times. It may take everything you’ve got to find the courage to begin. But the fact is you’ll never be satisfied until you move toward it. So go ahead, take the chance, try it today!”
