Page 17 - First Steps 2023

Faith deepens in many ways. What suggestions does your discipler
have based on how you responded to those statements?

2. Read aloud the following story and talk about it:
Two friends on a weekend getaway are hiking high in the Rocky
Mountains. It’s a beautiful fall day, golden aspens dotting sun-washed
slopes and canyons.
Suddenly, thunderclouds roll in from the west. The temperature
quickly drops as rain soaks the hikers and turns the trail slippery and

treacherous. What’s been the high point of their weekend has become a
life-threatening nightmare.
The hikers find themselves trapped on a ledge a hundred feet above
a canyon floor, shivering, exposed to biting cold.
As darkness falls a chilling wind rises and the hikers know they won’t
last the night. They’ll die unless they get help.
Then they hear it: a voice crying out from below. “I know you can’t
see it,” the distant voice says, “But there’s another ledge and a small
cave about six feet below you. Step off the ledge you’re on, and you’ll land
next to the cave and find shelter for the night.”
It’s pitch black. The hikers can’t see the cave, a ledge beneath them,
or even one other.

But if they stay where they are they’ll freeze to death.
One of the hikers yells into the storm, wanting to know who’s there.
When the voice calls back they discover it’s a park ranger who’s
worked in the area for decades. It’s a voice the hikers decide to trust so
they take a deep breath and, side by side, walk off the ledge.
They survive the night and are rescued the next morning.

Questions:
• How is having a confident trust in Jesus like what happened in this
story?
• How willing are you to trust Jesus like the hikers trusted the park
ranger, doing what Jesus asks—no matter what? Why do you answer as
you do? What can you point to in your life that illustrates your response?

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