Page 61 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

Study Section 8: Motivation

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on
your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

8.1 Connect

Read the following story written by journalist Katie
Serena: “On April 25, 2003, Aron Ralston traveled to
southeastern Utah to explore Canyonlands National
Park. He slept in his truck that night, and at 9:15 the
next morning — a beautiful, sunny Saturday — he
rode his bicycle 15 miles to Bluejohn Canyon, an 11-
mile-long gorge that in some places is just 3 feet wide. He
locked his bike and walked toward the canyon’s opening. At
around 2:45 p.m., as he descended into the canyon, a giant
rock above him slipped. Ralston fell and his right hand became
lodged between the canyon wall and the 800-pound boulder,
leaving him trapped 100 feet below the desert surface and 20
miles from the nearest paved road. Ralston hadn’t told
anyone about his climbing plans, and he didn’t have any way
to signal for help. He inventoried his provisions: two burritos,

some candy bar crumbs, and a bottle of water. (photo:
Wikipedia.com )

He futilely tried chipping away at the boulder. Eventually, he ran out of water and had to drink his own
urine. The entire time he considered cutting off his arm — he experimented with different tourniquets
and even made several superficial cuts to test his knives’ sharpness. But he didn’t know how he’d saw
through his bone with his cheap multi-tool. Distraught and delirious, Aron Ralston resigned himself to
his fate. He used his dull tools to carve his name into the canyon wall, along with his birthdate, the day’s
date — his presumed date of death — and the letters RIP. Then, he used a video camera to tape
goodbyes to his family and attempted to sleep.

That night, as he drifted in and out of consciousness, Ralston dreamt of himself, with only half his right
arm, playing with a child. Awaking, he believed the dream was a sign that he would survive and that he
would have a family. With a determined sense of resolution, he threw himself into survival. The dream
of a future family and life outside the canyon left Aron Ralston with an epiphany: he didn’t have to cut
through his bones. He could break them instead.

Using the torque from his trapped arm, he managed to break his ulna and his radius. After his bones
were disconnected, he fashioned a tourniquet from the tubing of his water bottle and cut off his
circulation entirely. Then, he was able to use a cheap, dull, two-inch knife to cut through his skin and
muscle, and a pair of pliers to cut through his tendons. He left his arteries for last, knowing that after he
severed them, he wouldn’t have much time.

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