DAY FOUR – Colorado Expedition

SUMMIT | BLANCA PEAK | High Noon

Elevation :: 14,345ft.

Here I sit on top of the world.

From Blanca Peak I can see for hundreds (if not thousands) of miles. The climb here was horrific, and that is being gracious. Only but for the grace of God did I make it.

All the way here I kept praying, “Not I, but You,” as my legs turned to mush and fear gripped my heart.

My eyes began to well up with tears as we progressed through the final fifty feet and I, for the first time, saw the cairns that marked the highest elevation in southern Colorado. When I finally got to the summit I broke down and cried for what seemed like an eternity but probably was only five minutes. I couldn’t explain why I cried even if I wanted to. But the truth of the matter is this: I made the summit and I cried like a ten-year-old girl the moment I got there.

There is absolutely no way to capture the spectacular awesomeness of this moment as I sit here on the summit writing. No picture can make it real; no words are adequate; no metaphor fully explains it.

There is a canister located here at the summit that contains a logbook, a logbook listing those that make it to the top of the summit. We each signed in, one-by-one, and writing my name and information in that booklet was both exhilarating and cathartic. I Made It!!!

My greatest overwhelming thought is my sadness that Sally is not h……………….

…………… H O L Y C O W ! ! ! ! …………… Two F-16s just buzzed the mountain!! It scared the heck out of us. All of a sudden there was a tremendous roar and we turned just in time to see them roar by us at top speed only a couple of hundred feet from us!! I guess when you are at nearly 15,000ft you are in their airspace and not vica-versa. Upon seeing us, the second F-16 did a tip of it’s wing to acknowledge our presence, then it roared around the side of the Peak and jetted over the ridge into the valley below. That was a gift from God! WILD AT HEART!!!!! …………….

As I was saying, I wish that Sally was here. I am reading one of her daily notes to me right now and I must say, she is SO amazing.

In her card, which I’ve just this moment read, she put this verse… PSALM 18:1 – “I love you, O Lord, my strength.”

There could not be a truer or more perfect verse for today’s climb. He is the only reason I made it here…

And the words are still ringing in my head over and over again, “Not I, but You.”