Page 50 - Biblical Counseling II

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

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.

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