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In his book, “Into Thin Air,” Jon Krakauer tells a gripping story about an
ill-fated ascent of Mount Everest in 1996. Many lives were lost, including adept
leaders. Each day the members of the team, under the command of Rob Hall and
Andy Harris, made their way higher and higher on the mountain to the different
camps on the mountain. The idea of acclimatization is to get the climbers used
to the rapidly decreasing amount of oxygen in the air as they climb higher.
There is a Base Camp and four higher camps on Everest. Each day the clients hike
to the next camp to acclimatize. They all go down to base camp after one night
at the new camp.
On the afternoon of May 10 all of the climbers were making the summit push. Most
had made it to the top but some were still struggling at 2 p.m. at the
designated turn around point. One of them was Doug Hansen along with guides Rob
Hall and Andy Harris. Hansen had attempted the climb a few years earlier and had
not made it. This time he was determined to make it to the summit no matter
what. The problem was that it was 4 p.m. before he accomplished this feat. The
sun was setting, the wind was rising, and a storm was brewing - a recipe for
disaster.
On his descent, Andy Harris, who had been exhausted by his conquest of the
summit, started to run out of oxygen. As he stumbled down under worsening
weather conditions, he came across a cache of oxygen canisters that had been
previously placed in the snow. Harris examined the canisters, and becoming
delirious from the lack of oxygen, believed them to be empty. He even argued
with his fellow climbers that all the canisters were empty. They shouted back
that these canisters were indeed full. Harris, beguiled by a brain devoid of
oxygen, made the false judgment that the oxygen canister which he held in his hand could
not help him. His lack of oxygen caused him to fail to recognize the very
substance that would save his life. He died.
This world is starving for a sense of purpose, direction, and spiritual meaning.
While attempting to fill voids in our lives with a variety of solutions, the
very thing that we need most eludes us, because we cannot even recognize what we
need.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV) says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
In other words, people lack spiritual value because they have little or no
connection with God. Without a relationship with the Holy Spirit, they are
destined to see value only in worldly goods and activities. But because people
were created to be spiritual beings, the worldly goods and activities never
satisfy. The trouble is that they do not realize this because their lack of
spiritual understanding clouds their thinking. The effect is much like Andy
Harris’ oxygen starved brain, which kept him from choosing the very element he
needed for survival. A person’s lack of spirituality keeps him from seeing and
accepting what he needs most.
Have you received this spiritual life? Jesus taught that a spiritual birth that takes place when a person exercises complete
faith and commitment to Jesus and what He did for us by dying for us on the
cross. If you are to find fulfillment and eternal meaning, it will only come
through a genuine spiritual regeneration. And that is available to you...today!
"To all who believed him and accepted him, He gave the right to become children
of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human
passion or plans, this rebirth comes from God." (John 1:12-13 NLT)
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