Psalm18:2
Can you imagine walking 900 miles to the South Pole dragging a sled carrying your supplies and a tent to sleep in and surviving to tell the story? It was my honor recently to speak with Robert Swan, OBE, a British polar explorer, who along with four other men accomplished this amazing feat, enduring discomforts and dangers in order to draw attention to Antarctica, the earth's last wilderness. His goal is to preserve this pristine and vast area from the unwelcome inroads that could be made by oil drillers and others seeking only monetary gain without thought for the environment.
Swan's book, "Antarctica 2041,” is an engaging story as he writes of raising funds and supplies and choosing suitable companions for the trip. The voyage to the starting point of the 900 mile walk had an inauspicious beginning as they sail up the Thames to a press conference and formal announcement only to have the vessel crash into the dock, scattering members of the media and the public, and then hit Tower Bridge.
Eventually they arrived in Antarctica and began the 900 mile trek to the South Pole. As they journeyed, watching out for wild animals and snow covered crevasses, they had to learn to put complete trust in each other in order to survive even though
at times they got on one another's nerves.
There is one phrase in the book that speaks to me of the relationship with Jesus that we, as Christians, strive for, "It's easy to say you trust someone but it is very difficult to actually do so, and do it from the heart." It made me wonder how often I think I am trusting Him but deep down I'm planning an alternative solution. Just yesterday I had prayed for a particular outcome and it didn't seem to be happening as I had prayed. Then I remembered that we must "trust from the heart" and, you know, things changed.
I'm reminded of a chorus "Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Jean Dean
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