“Climb Every Mountain and God Will Reward You”

The foothills of Scotland, 2008.

Durring the summer of 2009 I perfrormed a concert for Immanuel United Methodist Church in Cleona, Pennsylvania.  As an encore for the program I chose “Climb Every Mountain” from the musical “The Sound of Music”.   As an introduction I explained that I have found myself in situations that I was unable to be open about my faith and therefore I had to search out God’s guiding words in more secular venues. So, when I had to work in an office that only allowed secular music to be played on the radio, I was amazed how many “main-stream” songs can have a very Christian message.  The song “Climb Every Mountain” has a very uplifting message on it’s own, but if you apply our Christian values to the words, it can take on a much greater significance.  I then explained that I look at my life as a series of mountain ranges that I am to traverse with the help and guidance of the Lord.  The reward for the many hard climes and descents is that on our final day, when the Lord is ready for us, he will guide us to the top of our last mountain and allow us to look out over His “Promised Land”.  Then he will take our hand and lead us to our final home with him in the valley of the “Promised Land”.

After the concert the church had a dinner social and I enjoyed meeting and greeting the my audience.  As the day was winding up and I was about to start packing my equipment, an elderly couple came up to me.  The wife, who was physically challenged due to a crippled spine, motioned to her husband, who seemed rather week and perhaps ill himself.  She tearful explained that they were so moved by my music and testimony that her husband was unable to talk to me so he asked her to thank me.  I hugged them and thanked them for their kind words.  Then the husband simply said in a very broken tone, “Tell her!”  His wife began to explain that earlier that week he had been rushed to the hospital with chest pain.  They sat together in the emergency room for many hours as the doctors checked him.  They had been there for almost four hours when she noticed that he was reaching for her to hold his hand.  She touched him warmly and noticed that his hands were ice cold.  Then she heard him say, “Oh, she is taking me up! Oh, it is beautiful!”  Then she looked at the heart monitor and with each heartbeat the line got further and further apart until it stopped completely and the line was flat.  It was then that she prayed to the Lord to please look after her beloved husband and the God give her strength in his absence.  You see, not only was this man the love of her life, but he had become her caretaker over the last few years because of her own failing health.  She said, “A calming peace came over me and she knew that the Holy Spirit was telling her not to worry.”

Suddenly, she heard her dear husband say, “Oh, no she is sending me back!  I can’t stay.  There is more for me to do.”  Startled, she looked at the heart monitor and saw one blip of a heartbeat then after a few seconds another appeared.  Then another appeared and slowly his heart rate returned to normal.

It was then that he said with tears streaming down his face, “I was on “The Mountaintop” looking at the Lord’s “Promise Land” and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  It is just so hard to have to leave there, but I knew God wanted me to do it for her.  He then wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on the head.

Praise the Lord!