Lessons From Wall Climbing...

Well, I have acquired a new fitness obsession – Indoor wall climbing!!! Yes, I have discovered I'm an adrenalin junkie... I know I scare myself too!

It’s a pretty cool activity, requires concentration and lots of body strength and discipline to say the least! I went through training and thereafter really got into the act of climbing. I teamed up with a friend of mine and he challenged me to get to the top of the wall. You see to get to the top means you get to leave your mark there, almost like saying "I came, I saw, I conquered"; but getting to the top was no small feat!

I was there for over two hours every other day just trying to get to the top of the wall! I experienced lots of falling over, getting half way, having to get up and start all over again and exhaustion! However, whilst trying repeatedly to get to the top, I learnt that:

I had to make sure I was firmly harnessed in. No harness, no climbing; well unless I wanted to break a few bones.

This reminds me that whatever we do, whatever move we make in this life, we must make sure we are firmly harnessed and anchored in God, anchored in his will. That we are To move without being secured in God, means we are without his coverage and direction, which means the fuits of our labour will mean nothing. This we are though in John 15:5-6 "5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned" Are you anchored in him?

I found out the nature and distribution of my body strength. I realised that I had more lower body than upper body strength. This meant that my strength was in my lower body and my weakness was my upper body. I learnt that if I concentrated on my strength and used it to my advantage, I could scale up the wall quickly and almost effortlessly! Awesome.

This tells me that each and everyone of us is unique in our make up, we all have specific strengths and weaknesses, which means we all have specific gifts and abilities which we must use to our advantage and to the advancement of the kingdom of God. This we are taugh in Romans 12:6-8, which reads "6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly." Do you know your strengths and weaknesses and are you managing them wisely?

I learnt that in as much as I wanted to get to the top of the wall on the first try, sometimes this is not possible; not because I did not believe I could do it, but more because I had to learn the best way for ME to get there; the best route for ME to take, the best combination of strength and skills for ME to embrace.

This tells me that our walk in life is personal, that God has a path marked out for each and every one of us, and the combination of cross roads, of trials and tribulations, of success and failures we must go through or face is different for each person. When we learn what our individual path in life is, learn it, we will eventually get to where God wants us to get to and what God has already ordained us to be. Are you walking in tune to God's will for YOU?

I also found out that I had to have a certain frame of mind before and whilst on the wall. I had to approach eaach ascend and indeed desend determination and a "can do - I can reach the top this time" attitude; a mindset that tells me even though I failed the last seven or so times, this time I can and will get to the top.

This reminds me that in life having the right attitude and frame of mind is very important. "Our attitude determines our altitude". To have a good and positive attitude means that we embrace the nature of Christ as we are taught in Philippians 2:5 which reads "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had." What is the shape and nature of your attitude?

I found out that sometimes, I simply had to go back to the begining. Sometimes, when I get stuck on the wall and don't know how to navigate my way further up, I simply have to let go, and drop back to the ground, review my position and start all over again.

This reminds me that along the way, sometimes we will find ourselves in a rut due to variuos reasons. When this happens we must learn to pause and put ourselves through a "spiritual health check" as Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority. We must review our stance, go back to our source and re-align ourselves if need be, then start back on the journey ahead of us. Sometimes we simply have no option but to go back to the begining and start all over again, no matter how painful this might seem.

Finally, I learnt that climbing is quite good fun, but extremely hard work. This is because it uses all the muscle groups in the body, even the brain... imagine that!. And that the next day, the ache is nothing compared to all my gym or fitness activities to date, but it eases out with time.

This tells me that when we are living within the realms of God's will, we will experience extreme joy and fulfilment, but also, there will be times when we face trials and tribulations and we will need to use all the tools God has given us (prayer, fasting, meditating on the word, and much more) to get us through. There will be times when trials and tribulations will surely give us physical and spiritual ache, but we must be assured that this will ease in time as long as we hold on to faith and hope just like Moses did as we are taught in Romans 12:12 which reads "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer"

Besides, God works everything together for good, so pain or not, it will surely all come together in the end.

And that was the lessons I learnt from my new spot indoor, Wall Climbing. Oh and by the way I did get to the top - eventually.

Have a great day climbing your way to victory, on the way to becoming who God has already ordained you to be; keeping your faith and hope alive, whilst making him famous along way with every ascend and descend you embrace.

Much Love

Remi Banjo

***pictures by google***