On October 15, 2025, Jim Morrison became the first person to have skied down the north face of Mt. Everest.  The nine thousand feet slope is supposed to be the steepest, hence, the most dangerous part of Everest’s thirty-thousand feet high.  Jim Morrison did it in four hours!  When asked by a reporter what the biggest challenge he had to face doing what he did, he replied that it was not physical, but rather mental.  He said he kept asking himself, “Can I really do it?”  Despite years of training and preparation, he doubted himself.

As we begin the new year, we, too, might ask the same question, “Can I really do it?”  Perhaps we have been dealing with difficult situations or personal weaknesses, and we are not certain that we will have the stamina or the ability to cope with these issues.  We have serious doubts about our future because it looks bleak.  In the end we cannot help but ask, “Can I really do it?”  Deep down inside we know the answer that we can’t do it.  We’re not even sure that we will be able to get through it.  We’re just too tired to try again.

In the documentary of his descension from Everest, we can see how Jim Morrison managed to ski down this steep slope: one distance at a time!  Instead of skiing straight down, he skied sideways.  Instead of skiing continuously, he made numerous stops.  So, he’d ski to the left, then briefly stopped before skiing to the right.  That’s what he did repeatedly, for nine thousand feet and four long hours.  And that’s what we must do as well.  Like Morrison who had to chop off his downward slide of nine thousand feet into several feet at a time, we, too, must only focus on getting through the week or even the day.  And like Morrison who, to avoid falling, had to ski sideways, thus, taking longer time, we, too, must be patient and take longer time.  And like Morrison who never let go of his ski poles, we, too, if we don’t want to lose our balance, must never let go of God. 

Pastor Paul