Good thing I didn't read this before Tuesday

Earlier this month a friend and classmate of my daughter did the hiking trip of my nightmares. Aaron and his brother Josh, from California, both attend Gutenberg. They started Sunday, September 3rd with a group of hiking buddies for a wilderness camping and hiking adventure near Mt. Ritter, west of the Sierra Crest. All went as planned until Thursday, when most of the guys, including Aaron, summitted Ritter, then tried to descend the “quick way.”

Aaron’s dramatic account of the group’s 24-hour-plus ordeal, caught on the mountainside by a freak snowstorm, chills a mother’s insides. But it’s wonderful reading.

As his brother Josh (who’d stayed with another brother at base camp that day) worked frantically to radio rescue for the hikers, Aaron faced a growing likelihood he and his companions would die.

It was a struggle to stand on the truth that God is in control, that He rules over the mountains, and that He is with us - basically, to trust in Him. But this truth was reinforced in my heart in an awesome way. In the middle of the storm I remembered that I had a small bible in my pocket, which my mom had given me. I hadn't intended to pack it up the mountain, but had "accidentally" left it in my pocket. I hadn't wanted any extra weight, and didn't think I'd get the chance to read it anyway. But now, here we were, and I thanked God that I had forgotten to take it from my pocket. I pulled it out, held it up, and exclaimed, "Hey guys, guess what I 'accidentally' brought!" They looked, and smiled.

Go read the rest in Aaron's September 15th blog entry. Then look at photos the boys snapped, remembering to record life in the face of disaster. This one’s direct from my own anxieties of the day my son hiked beyond Tam McArthur Rim.



What a relief, though, those rescue people can serve as the hand of God sometimes. As Aaron writes so well, it’s God’s hand we rightly depend on when the day brings summit-views of frailty and grace.