Standing......at the base.
Have you ever stood at the base of a mountain and stared at the winding, dirt trail in front of you?
You see that the first few steps are going to be easy, but the trail begins its incline. Soon, the trail disappears into the brush and vegetation. You know the trail is supposed to lead you to the top, but you don't know exactly how it will get you there. So, you press forward into the canopy of trees.
Five years ago, my wife and I were at the head of the trail of this thing called youth ministry. We started out strong. The trail was nice with few obstructions. We moved forward with ease, even enjoying a few open meadows along the way. Today, we are still moving along the mountain trail, but the scenery has changed a bit. No longer is the trail wide and smooth. The trail has changed from flat to vertical. Instead of easy strides, we are climbing hand-over-fist, fighting for every inch of ground we can gain. We've been through the mud, been stuck by limbs and thorns, lost our footing and fallen hard.
There's a lake in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado called Lake St. Louis. It's a three-mile hike over terrain similar to what I described above. But there's one thing at the end of the hike that makes it worth it all...the view and refreshing chill of a mountain lake. At the summit is a beautiful lake surrounded by a meadow with a snow-capped peak rising above it all.
I really don't like the hard climb that you must make in order to get to this lake, but I like the end result. In similar fashion, I don't like the hard times of youth ministry, but I like the end results. Often there are times where we don't even get to see the end results. The hard climb sure does get discouraging, especially when you can't see the summit. In the short term, you want to quite, return to the trailhead or find another mountain. In the long term, you realize you still have to fight through the hard climb to get to the top.
