those who never dare to climb may never fall, but also never see the beauty at the top

so i took the statement, "beat your body into submission" a little too literally today. i spent a few hours at UK and climbed mainly 5.10's with nate...praise the Lord for giving me improved skills, because its so much fun!! the challenge always pays off when you finally figure out which sequence (aka the beta) you need to complete your nemesis...anyway, i climbed hard today and i had some trophy bloody hands that would make my partner proud. (are you laughing, neil?) i actually took a picture to share the joy...



it looked a lot cooler in person, but you can still see the caked blood, so that's gotta be worth something. so yeah, in addition to that i was climbing a new 5.10 that nate had like a billion takes on the first time he climbed it (not to brag, but i put him to shame, by the way. he admitted it.) and my foot slipped off a hold and i cracked my ankle on another hold. yeah, that hurt. i figured it'd just be another crazy bruise added to the dozens i've already got from various climbs, but later tonight when i woke up from my before work nap, i realized that it had swollen to the point that, well, let's just say if you took a baseball and cut it in half, that was about how swollen it was. gross. i should've taken a picture of that too. ha.

as i was thinking about all this, and feeling the cracked skin on my hands, the swollen ankle and the aching muscles, i thought about why i climb. the answer is in the end result. the pain experienced is so miniscule in comparison to the joy felt when the task is accomplished. "But for the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame..."

with Jesus, only when i dare to follow Him, can i experience the joy that is a Christ-filled life. i love my life. i love it because it is filled with Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit every step of the way. and yet i know that the joy set before me is so much sweeter. and for that, i will keep climbing.

press on.