Bob and I were standing outside talking. It wasn’t the “typical” male talk but it was typical of our conversations. We stood gazing at the beauty of Pikes Peak, we’ve done this hundreds of times before. The sun had just tucked itself behind the Peak and the colors streaming toward the sky were magnificent. “How could someone not believe in God when they see such beauty?” Spoke Bob. I remained silent in awe of the view.

“Isaac, pick up that stone.” I looked at him in amazement. “What” I responded. “Just pick up that rock.” Laughing, I did it. I don’t know why, I just did. As I stooped to pick up the rock, I saw that Bob was doing the same. I began to smile because I knew a lesson was in the works. “I want for you to throw that stone as far as you can. Your goal is to do your best to hit Pikes Peak.” All I could think of in my mind is that I am lucky that we are not standing in my backyard. Even more, my neighbors are lucky that we are not standing in my backyard. “Well what are you waiting for?” asked Bob. “How about and explanation.” I responded. “Just do it” he said. So I stretched my right arm behind me, kicked up my leg and I let it go like an all star baseball player. “Now that’s a throw I told him,” with a big smile on my face. “Now it’s my turn,” said Bob. “Oooh I’m scared.” I said laughingly. Bob reached back and threw his rock, it soared through the sky and landed a few feet in front of mine. “Ok, so you can throw a rock further than me. Your point is?” I said, a little disappointed that he out threw me. “That was a lucky throw. Wanna try to hit Pikes Peak again” asked Bob. I was already reaching for rock and had it flying threw the air before he finished his sentenced. This time my rock sailed even further surpassing my last mark and more importantly to me, passing Bob’s last throw too. I turned to him and smiled “Ok, your turn?” Bob exhaled, almost like a sigh of disgust, reached down picked up another rock and threw it. It seemed like that rock belonged in the air for as long as it stayed up there. Finally, seeming like hours later it landed, yep you guessed it in front of mine. “You just couldn’t let me have my time in the setting sun could you?” I said while laughing. “Isaac, you took your eyes off of what really mattered and instead you began to measure your attempt against mine. Have you forgotten what we were trying to do? We were doing our absolute best to reach Pikes Peak? We weren’t trying to see who could throw the rock the farthest.” responded Bob. “Yeah, Now I remember.” Admitting that for a moment I lost focus. “But neither one of us came close to hitting Pikes Peak.” I said. “You mean although we tried our absolute best, it still wasn’t enough? We still fell short?” “Yeah” I said seeing where this lesson was leading. “Isaac, lets view Pikes Peak as God. No matter how much we try, we still fall short. We are just not enough. We can give all of our money to churches. We can help those less fortunate. We can love everyone. We can have great works, but still that is not enough.” I began to smile as he continued “But then came Jesus. He made a way. He taught us that we cannot be saved by what we do, but we can be saved by who we know and who we accept. So we threw our rock; the symbolism is: we by our own effort stretched to meet God but we fell short. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph: 2:8-9.” “You know Isaac” he continued “we didn’t even have to throw the rock. We didn’t have to reach out to God. He is here with us just as we are.” “Sometimes we need to stop working in our attempt to find God and start working on our relationship with God, He knows where we are, He’s not the one lost.” I said.

Many morals can be found within the story. But instead of me telling you what they are, I hope that you are able to see them for yourselves.

Although this story is written from a Christian perspective even the secular community can find a moral to this story. Sometimes our best efforts are not enough. We will not always make it to the mountain top. We may not always be “the best” in what we do, but we remember, we tried our best. Take consolation in your attempt. Keep your eyes on doing YOUR best, not beating who you perceive as being the competition. Often times when this occurs, we take our eyes off of what mattered to begin with. We lose focus. So take a deep breath, re-evaluate and begin anew.

But in the same breath, remember in the Christian perspective your attempts are in vain if you do not know Jesus.