Salvation on the Summit

They call it the “Death Zone” – 26,000 feet high, close to the roof of the world, where the planet’s rotation causes 140 mph winds. What makes alpine climbers risk fortunes and even their lives in order to stand for five minutes on the world’s highest peak? Mount Everest is also the wind-swept battlefield for personality conflicts, the unfolding of ego-driven dramas, and the sometimes unheralded stories of courage and sacrifice as one climber lays down his life for another. 1996 marked a tragic climbing season in Nepal when icy storms blew in and left a number of climbers dead. The heartbreaking bestseller, "Into Thin Air," by Jon Krakauer told about the agonizing losses. I was writing radio sermons for the Voice of Prophecy back then, and these twelve programs were our response to that Everest headline. I tried to unpack spiritual lessons and offer glimpses of a heavenly kingdom so close to the stars above our world’s Third Pole. If you enjoy a sermon with an occasional sports motif,