Quandary peak is the 13 tallest fourteener in the state of Colorado. It stands at 14256 feet
Its name sure fits the hike. Multiple times throughout the hike, my friend Tana was saying we couldn't make it and we were just going to have to be ok not making it to the top, but I pushed. About an hour after that I was having trouble and she was pushing me. The hike gets really steep and rocky about two and a half miles from the top and that last one is the killer. I got to the point where I would take three steps, break, three more, break, can't do it, yes you can, three steps...I could see the peak finally, but it was just taking way too long. Three steps, that's too much. Sometimes we'd see someone on their way down and they'd say "I heard there's free Oreo's at the top" or "You can do it! You've made it this far" I wanted people's encouragement, but it didn't seem like it mattered. All I wanted to do was to reach the top.
And then four and a half hours after we started, we summited. People were cheering, "You made it!" And they'd high five you when you collapsed on the nearest rock. And then I sat up and looked out at the whole place I spent all this time trying to reach and it was more than worth it. There's something different about being at the TOP of a mountain, of all the mountains. 14256 feet struck me then and all I could think about was the MAGNITUDE of God. Who in the world was I to be so afraid of this? I did this! With His strength! He gave me the physical energy and the feet to walk with, even when I could only think three steps at a time. Looking down at the other mountains, I felt like I could literally feel Him holding the whole world in His hand. I could see His character reflected in the mountain and the people at the top welcoming us there! And I turned and saw more people reaching the top and we cheered right along for them because we knew the hard journey they had just accomplished.
And that was really an amazing thing...before the storm rolled in and started hailing and pounding against our faces and legs as we were trying to get back down the steep rock. But all I could think about on the way down was "how in the world did we actually do this?" And my friend Tana and I would just laugh at all the spots we took breaks at and all the places we thought we were near the top when we were so far away. God gave us the gift of friendship. We pushed each other. We needed each other in those moments. We needed the people coming down from the hike to prove that we could make it.
Hiking a fourteener isn't something I could do on a regular basis, but it was such an awesome experience. We got back home around 7:50 and at that point it felt like such a major accomplishment just to get down the stairs and then climb into bed, where I fell into a deep sleep for ten hours.
That experience just revealed to me how tiny I am- and man I feel it today with my physical exhaustion, but it also just blows me away about relationships and how to encourage and challenge and love like Jesus. There were so many times we were so fearful and couldn't see more than another big rock, some little rocks, another big one, but God doesn't want us stuck in our fear. He wants us to challenge each other even if it's just three steps at a time. He wants us to keep on going so when we get to the top we can cheer others on when they make it too.
I feel this growing in my heart of this love that maybe was already there, but its changing because as I'm falling more in love with God all that I have is seeking Him. And I just want to give it. I can't see much farther than three feet ahead of me, but I can see the three feet. Someday I'm going to look back and say "hey remember that quandary? Well I've summited and it's so amazing up here."
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