I had the joy of spending 5 days and 4 nights in Yosemite National Park June 4th – 8th. It was an amazing experience. Over the next few days, I will be posting some of the lessons I learned.
The first lesson is a lesson about limits. We all have limits; physical, mental, emotional, fears, and more. If we never push ourselves to the point of our limitations, we can only assume where those limits exist. The only way to truly know our limit in any area is to push ourselves to the point where we recognize and hit the limit. Once we are at that point, we no longer assume where the limit lies, we have experienced it. Form that moment on, we know the limit…we can also push past it next time.
On day 3 of our journey, we climbed to the top of Half Dome. There were 4 distinct times on that journey where I said to myself, “I cannot and will not climb to the top!” But, I kept pushing. I kept realizing my true limit was a little farther than I thought it was.I realized that my limit was much farther than I first assumed. I don’t like heights, I don’t like unsteady situations. As my father-in-law said, “worry can’t add a day to your life, but caution can!”
The Lord often requires us to go beyond our assumed limits. We hesitate at first. We declare, “I can’t do that!” We back away from it. We limit ourselves out of fear or uncertainty. In life, our limits exist somewhere beyond the end of our comforts. Life would be dull if we stayed comfortable all the time. Jesus pushes us, He calls us to go beyond where we think our limits exist. He calls us to go beyond where we are comfortable. Once we step beyond our comfort, we must rely on Him. It is in those times we see His comfort…His comfort is far greater than any comfort we can manufacture in this life. I pray that we all will be willing to move beyond our assumed limits and into the place of trusting Him!
Here are the places I said “I can’t”. First was before we began up the hill known as “Sub Dome”
The second time I said “I can’t go any more” was at the top of Sub Dome, looking over to the base of Half Dome.
The third time I said, “I can’t do it” was at the base of the Half Dome cables. This was looking up the 400 foot climb. We climbed the face of Half Dome while holding on to the two cables.
The 4th time I felt I had reached my limit was about 150 feet up the cables. I did not take a picture of that! I determined that I could take one more step, then one more step, then one more step…
We finally reached the top! After hiking 6 miles and 3000 feet of elevation on day 2, we hiked 3 more miles and another 2000 feet of elevation to reach the top of Half Dome!
Here is my brother-in-law, Joe, celebrating what we all felt!
It was a long way down to the Yosemite Valley. The view was breathtaking!
A Pastor's Thoughts 