Lessons from the slope - Part 1......


Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to go skiing for the first time! I was a little nervous, but also very excited. After all, I already wrote about how inspired I was by the winter Olympics!! Adam and I had a great time, and stayed up on our skis most of the time!! During the day, though I couldn't help but think of some great spiritual applications in our daily lives. Over the next couple of days, I plan on writing about some of those simple lessons. None of them are earth shattering ideas, but simple reminders for our Christian walk.
Lesson #1: Preparation

I guess I never realized how much goes into getting dressed to go skiing! I was wearing 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a fleece, a coat, hat, and mittens. It also took us about 10 minutes to even get our boots on and buckled. After we were all dressed, I felt 30 pounds heavier and much slower! We didn't even put on our skis at first, but instead carried them to where we would meet our ski instructor. She proceeded to teach us all the basics of skiing, starting with how to put our skis on! Our hour lesson consisted of more simple steps like arm and leg positions, stopping (which is very important!!), and turning. All of the things we learned allowed us to have a much more enjoyable day later on.
I couldn't help but compare the preparations we made to learn how to ski to the preparations we MUST take in our Christian life. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." We can't expect to just run out into the spiritual battle, and fight without any preparation. Just as it would have been foolish for Adam and I to expect to ride the lift to the top of the mountain and ski beautifully down the mountain with no training. We must consistently arm ourselves with scripture and prayer, as well as humbly accepting training and help from more mature believers. We will be much more successful in our lives if we take the time to prepare before hand!