October/November
2016 - Vol. 88
Roger
Foley (Lamb of God) and Brian Lalonde (Servants of
the Word) on Goldney Ridge, Mount Rolleston, New
Zealand
.
‘It is not
the Mountains we conquer, but ourselves…’
.
a reflection
by Roger Foley
Many of us are familiar with this rather famous
quote from Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand
climber who summited Everest in 1953. The
mountain, originally named Peak XV when surveyed
around 1865, was then later renamed to honour
George Everest the then Surveyor General of India.
The mountain of course had and still has both
Nepalese and Tibetan names pre-dating the interest
of others ‘conquering it’ [to defeat, to beat, to
annihilate and more]. The Nepalese name is
‘Sagarmatha’ [Goddess of the Sky] and the Tibetan
is ‘Chomolungma’ [Mother Goddess of the Universe].
My modest endeavours into the Southern Alps, the
Shark’s Tooth on Taranaki, and into the explosion
crater on Ngauruhoe have never been incursions
with a mind to conquer. Rather in my journeys,
which have ranged from alpine climbing to crawling
through narrow caving systems, to bungee jumping,
have all included facing and 'conquering' my
limitations and fears. Ed Hillary was right.
However the biggest challenges in life are not
‘way out there’, they are ‘close in here.’ The
most important challenge for me is the challenge
to commit my life each day, after day, after day,
after day, without reservation or question, into
the hands of an ‘unseen’ God. Now that can be
pretty scary. Much scarier than a boot slipping on
a ridge, or getting your helmet stuck in a cave
crawl!
This morning in my study reading I came across
'What happens after you die depends on what
happens before you die...' Mmm, indeed, food for
thought.
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Roger
Foley is the senior
coordinator of the Lamb of God, a community
of the Sword of the
Spirit with 7
branches located
throughout New
Zealand. He and his
wife Veronica live
in Christchurch, New
Zealand. |
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