I remember being stranded in Massachusetts in an ice storm a number of years ago, and finding a copy of "Outside" magazine on the coffee table next to the sofa on which I was sleeping. It contained an article by Jon Krakauer on the infamous, ill-fated Mount Everest expedition of 1996. Never a terribly outdoorsy person myself (unless you count the ocean, in which case, I am a mermaid), I nevertheless was enthralled, horrified, fascinated, terrified and otherwise grabbed by the throat by what I read. Man/ Woman against nature, people stripped down psychologically to the most basic level of what it is to want life when nature seems to want the opposite for you. It took my breath away.
I came across this little video last year (I believe it had different music then). It is the work of an artist, Simon Smith (downloadable at proost.co.uk), and the music is by Explosions in the Sky.
There is something about it that reminds me of that Everest expedition... the human being, in this case Jesus, fully exposed in the midst of an incredibly hostile environment. Jesus relies on God, in the face of forces that want to annihilate him. Jesus relies on God, and we can too.
Jon Krakaurer has written some intense books....I've only read "Under the Banner of Heaven" it was compelling and intense and at times more than I could handle. I have also been in my own dangerous (emotional, pyschological, vocational) wilderness experience. And, yes, pretty much all one can do is lean deep into God and trust that somehow all will be well, hostile environment or not. It's my own lived incarnational/crucifixion/resurrection story. Thank God I could trust the whole story and not think that it ends with the wilderness.
Jon Krakaurer has written some intense books....I've only read "Under the Banner of Heaven" it was compelling and intense and at times more than I could handle. I have also been in my own dangerous (emotional, pyschological, vocational) wilderness experience. And, yes, pretty much all one can do is lean deep into God and trust that somehow all will be well, hostile environment or not. It's my own lived incarnational/crucifixion/resurrection story. Thank God I could trust the whole story and not think that it ends with the wilderness.
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