Lessons From the Summit - Trust

I learned a lot on my trek to the highest point in this corner of the U.S.  I am going to take a few posts to share some of those thoughts and hopefully inspire you to take some new steps.

The alarm goes off at 10:30 PM. Our goal was to be leaving camp and starting our push to the summit somewhere around 11.  We went to bed close to 6pm and after hours of restless and sporadic sleep I had finally fallen hard only to be jolted awake by my watch alarm.  Once out of bed and dressed I found my place on the rope, strapped on my crampons and started fixing my prussic lines to the rope. 

Everything I had worked toward was right now.   

Just before starting out of base camp Del turned to me and said, "If at any point you feel uncomfortable or unsafe doing something just let me know."

Before I even had a chance to stop myself I said back to him, "Del, I trust you and trust that you will not lead me into something you don't believe I can do.  I have already told myself I will try anything you lead me too."

 

I don't know if you are aware of the dangers of glacier travel but there are some big holes and in the middle of the night they become more ominous and ambiguous.  I don't think I realized what I was saying.  But with every ounce of me, I meant it. 

Later as I was sitting on the summit I remembered that short conversation and realized how significant it was. 

TRUST is HUGE. 

People follow when they trust those who lead. 

As church planters, pastors, entrepreneurs, friends and family members we ask people to trust us with a great deal.  We ask for their money.  We ask for their support.  We ask for some of their flock.  We ask for time, which is the measurement of life.  I have a finite measurement of time on this planet and you do as well.   And the people we lead only have so much.  Of all the resources we have at our disposal, time may be the most valuable. 

And we ask for a lot of it.

 

The question is...

Can people trust us with what is most valuable?

Can they trust our motives?  Can they trust that we have our eyes fixed on Jesus just as we teach them to fix their eyes on Jesus?  Can they trust our authenticity?  Can they trust that when we make mistakes, which we do, that we will be honest with them?

Trust is the foundation of true relationship.

 

On that mountain, at that moment I was not only telling Del that I think he has good judgement, I was telling him that I trust that he will do his best to get me back to my wife and daughter alive.  I was literally saying, "I trust you with my life."  To be honest, I have not yet fully unpacked all of this, but you get what I was hit with as I laid on my pack, breathing hard and waiting to descend back into thick air.

 

When people trust you, they will follow you.