Last Saturday I went skiing with Ren, Holly and assorted sons and nieces. It was Alyssa’s first time. She is an athletic 10 year old and she spent the morning on the wimpy, I mean bunny hill. After lunch, Drew and Madeline talked her into going up a more advanced lift. She told me as she was riding up “Majestic” she felt pretty uneasy when she saw how steep the mountain was. She was pretty confident on the bunny hill and didn’t really understand what getting on a lift meant. Ski lifts all look the same from the bottom and if you have only been up the bunny hill you may not understand just how much farther up the mountain and more difficult the runs are. Drew and Madeline assured her all would be swell and she trusted them instead of listening to that naggy little voice that told her this really isn’t a good idea.
Her Dad and I warned her a few hours earlier, (as she was headed toward another lift that was experts only). We tried to tell her the difference between black diamond and green square. She is one gutsy kid.
After a while, Holly got a little nervous and called Alyssa on her cell phone. Sure enough, poor little Alyssa was stranded on a steep hill. Her cousins had abandoned her and she had lost a ski and was seriously stuck. She couldn’t ski down the hill because it was too steep for her skill level.
A few minutes later I got a call from Madeline. She asked me what she should do. I told her that it was her choice but if I was her I would hike back up to where Alyssa was and stay with her until we could get there to rescue her.
So Ren and I took off. We skied to the front of the line and ditched the 99 and nine (Sam and Alexa). When we got to the top we went I search of Alyssa, called Madeline’s phone and followed the clues she gave me and ended up about 300 yards below them. I sidestepped up as far as I could and called to them, encouraging them to skoot down as far as they could on their bottoms. In the meanwhile, I realized how steep the mountain was and knew I wouldn’t be strong enough to get Alyssa down. So I called Doug. Luckily, he is an expert skier, and was on his way up the very lift.
Alyssa made it to where I was and I got her skies attached to her boots, her helmet on her head and her bod vertical. I tried to do the thing I’ve done dozens of times with my own children. The problem was, I did this when my kids were four or five. I put my skies on the outside of hers, held our poles out in front of us horizontally with her hands between mine and with the tips of my skies together, attempted to ski down the hill with Alyssa. We ended up turning into one of those cartoon versions of a snowball with legs, skiis, arms and poles flailing wildly as we tumbled down the hill.
I simply was not strong enough to support her weight and mine. Ren just looked on and shook his head. He is incredibly athletic and strong but lacks the skill. There we were, two adults, incapable of helping this kid because of unmet potential in skiing ability on Ren’s part and lack of physical strength on mine.
So we waited for Doug. He came flying over the crest of the hill in his red ski suit like a heroic santa clause. He deftly straddled Alyssa’s skies and held the poles in front of her and away they went. Ren and I did our best to keep up with them. Doug was in complete control and within minutes Alyssa was safely back on the bunny hill.
I thought of how many times in a young person’s life they are tempted to get involved in some tempting activity. Others may tell them it is no big deal and then leave them when they get stuck. They may feel too embarrassed to call for help but adults that love them will call and even leave other responsibilities to help them. But no matter what others do, there is often situations where only someone who is far above the rest of us in ability can help.
Our Savior is there to rescue us. He will get us down from the mountain of sin, even if we got up there by our own stupidity! It may take the help of others who are willing to hike back up and sit with us until help arrives. We may have to sit alone for awhile and contemplate the situation we got ourselves into. Parents and Aunts who love us may be the ones who call for help. Once we are ready for his help, even if it means we’ve tried other sources and tumbled, He will be there.
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