God's Coaching #146

God's Coaching #146

Dan Mazur was a Mount Everest veteran, but he didn’t expect this on his climb to the top. About two hours from the highest summit in the world, Dan found a man sitting on the trail. The climber’s jacket was around his waist. He wasn’t wearing a hat or gloves. A lack of oxygen had him a little confused, but that wasn’t the strangest part. This climber, named Lincoln Hall, had collapsed the day before after reaching the summit and had been left for dead.

Somehow Lincoln survived the night without freezing or falling over the steep drop-offs on either side of the ridge. At about 28,500 feet high, the Australian was in the death zone, where lack of oxygen slowly shuts down a person’s body. He was suffering from cerebral edema, which is swelling of the brain, along with frostbite and dehydration. But he was miraculously alive. Dan’s team quickly gave up their lifetime dreams of reaching the summit to save Lincoln’s life. They sacrificed their own oxygen, gear, and food and coordinated a rescue of the man who had already been declared dead on Everest. Dan and his climbing partners were real-life Good Samaritans.

What’s the Score?

You probably know the story Jesus told about the Good Samaritan. It begins with a man who was beaten by robbers and left for dead by the side of a road. People you would expect to help him, a priest and a Temple worker, walked right by. Then a Samaritan came by. The Jewish people and Samaritans despised each other, yet this man stopped and saved the victim’s life.

Jesus used this story to teach us to love our neighbor and to show us that our neighbors aren’t just the people like us—they’re everybody, even the people we dislike. Jesus finished his story by asking who had acted as the neighbor to the man in need. His listener answered, “‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Yes, now go and do the same’” (Luke 10:37). That’s the same thing we’re supposed to do when we find someone in need . . . even when that person is 28,500 feet up on a mountain.

On the Ball

Keep your eyes open at school this week for someone who is rejected or struggling. Go beyond your normal group of friends to reach out to someone who needs a hand or a friend.

Coach’s Comment

The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” Luke 10:37