Page 51 - Biblical Counseling II

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.

“All the desires, joys, and euphoria of a future life
came rushing into me,” Ralston stated at a press
conference. “Maybe this is how I handled the pain.
I was so happy to be taking action.” The entire
process took an hour, during which Ralston lost 25
percent of his blood volume. High on adrenaline
and the sheer will to live, Ralston climbed out of
the slot canyon, rappelled down a 65-foot sheer
cliff, and hiked 6 of the 8 miles back to his car — all
while severely dehydrated, continuously losing
blood, and one-handed.

Six miles into his hike, he stumbled upon a family
from the Netherlands who had been hiking in the
canyon. They gave him Oreos and water and
quickly alerted the authorities. Canyonlands
officials had been alerted that Ralston was missing
and had been searching the area by helicopter —
an effort that would have proved futile, as Ralston
was trapped below the surface of the canyon. (Photo:
pinterest.com )

Four hours after amputating his arm, Ralston was
rescued by medics. They believed that the timing
could not have been more perfect. Had Ralston amputated his arm any sooner, he would have bled to death.
Had he waited, he would have died in the canyon” (Serena, 2019).

The Lesson ...

Motivation

“Aron Ralston’s thirst and hunger, his sense of belonging to others, and his brute will to live and
become a father highlight the force of motivation, which is a need or desire that energizes behavior
and directs it toward a goal. His intense emotional experiences of love and joy demonstrate the close
ties between our feelings, or emotions, and our motivated behaviors” (Myers, p. 236, 2009).

Do our motivations come from nature or nurture? The answer is both. “Our motivations arise from the
interplay between nature (the bodily “push”) and nurture (the “pulls” from our thought processes and
culture). Let’s consider one perspective psychologists have used in an attempt to understand motivated
behaviors” (Myers, p. 238, 2009). We’ll contrast this perspective with a Biblical understanding of motivation.

A Hierarchy of Motives

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