caring enough to carry

Eugene H Peterson writes in "a Long Obedience in the Same Direction"

When mountain climbers are in dangerous terrain, on the face of a cliff or the slopes of a glacier, they rope themselves together. Sometimes one of them slips and falls- backslides. But not everyone falls at once, and so those who are still on their feet are able to keep the backslider from falling away completely. And of course, in any group of climbers there is a veteran climber in the lead, identified for us in the letter to the Hebrews as "Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in." Heb 12:2

it has seemed lately - esp- that this race we're in --this mountain we're climbing, is steep. where i wouldnt say that any have exactly backslidden, we seem to be taking turns slipping on the shoal. just recently i had my own opportunity to see how far i had fallen. as i spoke to a friend the other night, i realized that it had begun inocently -- like all sin seems to. things had happened around me and rather than look to my veteran climber, i looked at the ones above and below me on the line. somehow, i didnt trust the voice of my friend The Holy Spirit, but listened intently to the voices of so many others. It was easy to go from there to fall further still down that slippery slope, as i opened my mouth to allow my own bitterness to complain and foster greater grief. soon i realized that my life was no longer filled with the Joy i had once carried, but had become full of judgement in a critical spirit. and then i was forced out of the race to sit on the sidelines in my own 'timeout' with God-- i got sick. for a person who doesnt get sick very often, this was a hard thing- but from the beginning, i was determined to return to the Joy of my Salvation--with His grace. and that's where the ropes of my friends came to me. phone calls, prayers, emails-more prayers, and thru these friends, i knew i was connected. they cared enough to carry me. these friends were--and are-- my lifeline from my Savior. as for taking turns-- one of my friends has slipped. Praise the LORD! We are tethered to His lines and can happily carry each other.