ASCENDANCY

Don’t Get Higher Than You Can Hold
By: Leroy Brownlow copyright 1974

To be picked up and placed high on the ladder of progress is no assurance that you won’t get dizzy and fall off. However, ascending gradually gets you accustomed to the heights, and develops your muscles to hold.

Solid advancement is on the foundation you have laid. There set your ladder for the assurance the bottom won’t drop out.

Build today, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall tomorrow find its place.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Climbing has it perils (you may fall off), but staying on the ground has its hazards, too (something may fall on you). Climb, but don’t climb faster than your strength will let you will let you stay. And be nice to the people you pass on the way up, for you might need a friendly hand to break your fall on the way back down. With this spirit you are apt to stay.

Proverbs 25:7

Jay’s Thoughts on “Don’t Get Higher Than You Can Hold”

Climbing Mount Everest requires incredible amount of desire, training, patience and dogged persistence not to mention the capital required to get to the mountain. Mount Everest is the highest point on the earth at 29,035 feet above sea level.

The walk into base camp takes about three (3) weeks and represents a beautiful trek with a steady climb to 17,388 feet above sea level. Normally, the climb to the summit is headed up by a Veteran Mountaineer who has reached the summit of Mount Everest several times and may include as many as eight(8)to ten (10) climbers although the largest group to attempt the summit was from China and included 410 climbers. The Veteran Mountaineer is a seasoned climber and makes all decisions relative to the ascent. He is responsible to assure the team gets to the summit and back safely.

There are four (4) camps, above base camp, on the trip to the summit and a number of support staff at base camp. Climbers start by climbing to Camp 1 and acclimating to the lower oxygen levels. Most climbers must use supplemental oxygen in order to reach the summit. They will climb up to the various camps above and back down to base camp to rest. Realize that at these heights the lack of oxygen places unusual stresses on the human body.

The Veteran Mountaineer is watchful and protective of his team. He watches for weak spots in the ice, oxygen related sickness, and other potential hazards. Weather also plays a role in the ability to achieve the summit and the window to summit is very small. The Veteran Mountaineer must be willing to take a calculated risk just to position the team to summit. The Veteran Mountaineer having reached the summit in prior climbs realizes the risks and will not move the team faster than their abilities. Once the summit is reached the view is magnificent but now the real challenge starts. Tired after the summit the danger of the descent is magnified. One wrong step places the entire team at risk. At these heights there is no margin of error and most loss of human life happens during the descent. This paragraph does not explain even close to the number of challenges involved in climbing Mount Everest but it does provide the encouragement to find out more if interested.

Tying a Mount Everest climb to the topic “Don’t Get Higher Than You Can Hold”; is recognizing that for each of us to achieve our goals we must take a risks. We must be willing to accept help from many people along the way and we must do the hard work required in order to achieve the summit of our goals. We must be disciplined and persistent as we climb. Realizing that there may be times when we are force to strategically fall back. Therefore, we must assure that we have developed relationships that will provide a helping hand to slow our descent in the event we slip or fall. Hopefully, your hard work, discipline and persistent will prevent the slips or falls that life may bring your way.

This is Jay McJunkin signing off... Remember "if you think you can or think you can't... you are right"! Now go out and make something happen!!!

Very Respectfully,

Jay