We really do not have much that we can offer the Savior in appreciation of what he has done for us. We truly are unprofitable servants. But we can always remember him. I have really thought about this today as we have had our youth lesson about the sacrament today. Thinking about this reminded me of a rock climbing story I once heard and tracked down. A few years ago Thomas Griffith shared the following in the Ensign:
Remember Him
Several years ago I heard Elder Gerald N. Lund of the Seventy describe a magazine article about rock climbing. The article discussed belaying—the fail-safe system that protects climbers. One climber gets into a safe position, fastens the rope in a fixed position, then calls to his or her companion, “You’re on belay”—meaning “I’ve got you.” The director of a climbing school, Alan Czenkusch, described his experience with belaying to the author of the article:
“Belaying has brought Czenkusch his best and worst moments in climbing. Czenkusch once fell from a high precipice, yanking out three mechanical supports and pulling his belayer off a ledge. He was stopped, upside down, 10 feet [3 m] from the ground when his spread-eagled belayer arrested the fall with the strength of his outstretched arms.
“‘Don saved my life,’ says Czenkusch. ‘How do you respond to a guy like that? Give him a used climbing rope for a Christmas present? No, you remember him. You always remember him.’” 1 (Thomas B. Griffith, The Root of Christian Doctrine, Ensign, August 2007)
Notes
- In Eric G. Anderson, “The Vertical Wilderness,” Private Practice, Nov.1979, 21.