Highpoints: For Those Who Dare to Climb

Copyright © 2012 Jim Laudell

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Also by Jim Laudell:

Touchtalks for Couples

Touchtalks for Leaders

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-6129-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6128-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6130-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012913693

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/22/2012

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1      The Guide

2      The Instructions

3      The Climb

4      Faith

5      Solo

6      Atmosphere

7      Gain

8      Changes

9      Endurance

10      Strain

11      Grace

12      Passion

13      Acclimation

14      Inner Core

15      Survival

16      Celebration

17      Reflection

Endnotes

I am blessed, and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for my loving and supportive wife, Gwen, with whom I have enjoyed nearly thirty-five years of marriage; for my son, Brandon, and his wife, Amanda; for my daughter, Melanie, and her husband, Nathan; and our five grandchildren.

I want that mountain

– Caleb, the first mountaineer

Foreword

Mountains are prophetic statements of the dispensational plan of God. Jim Laudell captures the thrill of the climb, the challenge of the ascent, and the sacrifice of the mountaineer, but most of all the view from the top.

Learning how to push yourself beyond fear to gain higher ground is not easy. Highpoints will invigorate your passion for the push; your spirit will cry out for the trek that takes you to the top, and you will never be satisfied with anything less than breathing the mountain air. God placed in all of us a craving for the peak, and Jim Laudell taps into the God-given desire for reaching higher ground.

The Christian life consists of upward mobility. The Holy Spirit in us compels us to climb. We are discontent with valleys. We want more; we were made to move upward and onward.

Jesus died on a mountain and will ultimately return on a mountain. It is fitting that Jim Laudell calls us to the height of the mountain, for that is where Jesus will someday return. I will be waiting at the top when Jesus returns; how about you?

Lace up your boots, strap on your pack, and get moving; it’s time to head for the mountain.

—Charles G. Scott, General Bishop, Pentecostal Church of God

Preface

Mountains can be daunting, overwhelming, and intimidating, but millions each year visit the great summits to sightsee, take pictures, and breathe fresh air. Only a few, however, choose to climb to the highpoints, to reach the top. The high places, the summits, the tops are for the climbers—elevation is for those who choose to climb.

I love the mountains. From my very first trip to Pikes Peak I have longed to scale summits and to raise my hands in celebration as I see the world from its tops. How can one not stand in awe of majestic mountains with their beautiful splendor of massive rocks reaching to the white- and purple-hued sky? Admire the grandeur of royal creation of peaks grasping at the heavens? Or love the morning sun glistening off the whitened, snowy face of the summits in contrast to the valleys below?

I have loved Jesus from my very first trip to a church in St. Louis, Missouri, bowing my head as a ten-year-old and tearfully asking Jesus Christ into my heart. It was a summit, but it wasn’t until later, when I was in my teens, that I realized there would be many summits to scale and many highpoints to reach. My mind was made up while kneeling beside my bed praying one evening. I would not settle for second best; I would not accept the norm. I wanted the most, the best, and the highest elevation Jesus Christ could offer, but I quickly learned the journey there was not going to be a rose-strewn, comfortable path. There would be battles, temptations, and tough times, but each time Christ appeared in a fresh and real way; He was always there on the journey.

Mountains invoke fear because of the great risk of falling. I must admit my failures; I’ve at times embarrassed myself, but Jesus brushes us off like a momma brushes off a small tyke after a tumble. But if you choose to know God in a vivid and real manifestation, there will come days when you tumble, and that is when you must acknowledge without hesitation that Jesus is with you. Your climb puts you at risk, but it also puts you in a place where you see God from a higher elevation.

While engaged in battle, David longed for a drink of the water he remembered at the well of Bethlehem. Several of his thirty-strong warriors broke through an enemy stronghold and brought him a drink. Perhaps you see the mountain peaks and desire the highpoints but sink back in desperation for fear of the risk, but you should know that the drink is worth the fight, the joy of the experience is worth the discomfort, the power is worth the strain, and the climb is worth the risk.

The highpoint is full of great scenery, elation of Spirit, and the joy of accomplishment; not works and deeds, but relationships. Not religion but Jesus. Not boundaries but freedom. Reaching the highpoint is a life and a legacy. Moving into the fresh air of His everyday presence is your new calling. Once you have climbed the first mountain of His grace and glory, you will aspire to climb another and another.

This is not a call to the contented to dwell in the lowlands. This is not a rallying point for those who enjoy the comfort of the uncommitted or the spiritually relaxed but a call to those who choose to climb. Those who want more, desire more, and crave more; those who wake in anticipation of more than a Sunday service, more than musically enticed worship, more than a condensed version of the gospel. Those who have a desire to know Him; as Paul cried, That I might know Him. He wrote more of the New Testament than any other writer and saw miracles and personal revelations, but he cried for more, That I might know Him.

Jesus is calling for climbers.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the following people who took a substantial role in putting this book into print. First was Richard Robertson, Westbow, Inc. who first encouraged me to go forward. Secondly, Dustin Geralds and Courtney Kuchem , check in coordinators, who were helpful, cordial and detailed.

I want to thank my marketing team and social media consultants, Tiffany Helderstedt of Tiroa Consulting; and Tracey O’Malley of Hotwire Design.

Mateo Palos and the Design Team for their professional manner in every detail.

And, I thank all my friends who continually encouraged us and prayed for us.

Introduction

It’s not the mountain we conquer—but ourselves.

—Sir Edmund Hillary

They say confession is good for the soul, so I must admit falling is much easier for me than climbing. While preaching a crusade in Cuiaba, Brazil, my conversation interpreter, Jose Wilson, suggested we go on an hour-long drive and see the magnificent waterfalls, called in Portuguese Cachoeira Véu da Noiva (Bride’s Veil Waterfall), which carries the legend of a jilted bride who jumped over the cliff. We traveled through the valleys, hills, and rivers to a massive and stunning waterfall that cascades hundreds of feet down into an immense pool of water that flows into a river. We stepped out of our vehicle and hiked in to the designated area for photographs.

After viewing the falls from a distance, our small group moved closer to the cascading falls, so close we began to feel the light spray of water. The rocks were slippery as ice from the constant mist of the rushing falls. We wanted to step over a few more feet to view the falls from the top, near the bank of the rushing falls.

I slipped, fell, and slid over the cliff. This would be a good place to hold for a commercial break while you’re trying to gain your composure. Yes, I fell over the embankment, over the cliff, and down by the falls. I landed some forty to fifty feet below on a protruding flat rock. I gained my footing momentarily but slid on my back on the canyon wall. I sat down. Breathing heavily, I surveyed my options. They were nil. Inches farther, and I wouldn’t be writing this book. Missing my spot of safety would have landed me on the floor of the chasm, and I would have died.

I decided to climb back to the top while my friends shouted words of comfort through exclamations of fear. I climbed perilously, grabbing limbs and slippery rocks till I reached my group. They cried as they led me to our vehicle. I was bloodied, my clothes torn and muddy, but I was alive.

I have a short list of daring feats I’d like to accomplish before