Last Thursday my cousin Mark and I took a trip to climb Quandary peak. It was a very memorable day, with deep conversations, taking unknown trails and watching a little old lady pass us like she was an olympic runner (at least that's how it felt). We were determined to make it the whole way up, even though every step began to feel like a task in and of itself around 12,000 ft.
Around 13,000 feet it began to rain. And then rain some more and well, next thing we knew it was raining sideways and hail began to smack our faces pretty hard and the rocks were getting slippery. Thankfully a group of 3 were going back and a guy gave his poncho to me (only had a jacket up until then). But we went a little further and thought we would just rough it to the top, but it just kept getting worse, so we looked at each other and determined that it would be wise to turn back. 
Sure enough, by the time we made it to the bottom the sun was back out and it was getting warm again. But overall it was a bonding experience (getting to know my cousin has been awesome) and we were able to see a small taste of the bigness of Jesus. There's so many analogies you can come up with as you think about climbing one of those things. But hopefully we'll get another Thursday soon to take it on all the way to the top and feel the weight of 14,000ft on the lungs.
