The Ascent - Part 3

Dan Stanford
Nov 22
2 min read

The Ascent - Part 3

I’m not a fan of heights.

The Willis Tower in Chicago (it was the Sears Tower when I was a kid) has 103 stories. For people like me, each floor feels like another opportunity to meet Jesus early. Then there’s the glass Skydeck, where you can look straight down. That’s not sightseeing—that’s sanctification.

And yet, for all our modern skyscrapers, one of the most terrifying “climbs” in history didn’t involve steel or glass. It involved a dad, a son, and a mountain.

In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to go to “a mountain I will show you” and offer his beloved son Isaac there. As a father, I can’t imagine. Abraham isn’t just climbing a hill—he’s climbing the single greatest test of his trust.

We know, looking back, that God never intended Isaac to die. God was after Abraham’s heart, not his child. At the top of that mountain, God stops Abraham and provides a ram instead. Abraham names the place:

“On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:14)

He went up expecting loss. He came down carrying a story of God’s faithfulness.

Comedian John Pinette once joked, “I don’t do ‘ups.’ I do sit-downs, lay-downs, and wolf-it-downs.” A lot of us feel that spiritually. We like comfort. We like flat ground. We don’t “do ups.”

But to follow Jesus is to have a climber’s heart. To say with Paul, “I press on toward the goal… for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

You may be facing your own mountain right now—cancer, addiction, forgiveness, grief, a scary new calling.

Here’s the hope:

On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. 

Courage. 

Strength. 

Wisdom. 

Unexpected provision.

What you find with God at the top is worth every step of the climb.

Comments

The Ascent - Part 3

The Ascent - Part 3 I’m not a fan of heights. The Willis Tower in Chicago (it was the Sears Tower when I was a kid) has 103 stories. For people like me, each floor feels like another opportunity to meet Jesus early. Then there’s the glass Skydeck, where you can look straight down. That’s not sightseeing—that’s sanctification. And yet, for all our modern skyscrapers, one of the most terrifying “climbs” in history didn’t involve steel or glass. It involved a dad, a son, and a m

The Ascent - Part 2

The Ascent - Part 2 Do you love working the yard? Green thumbs. Manicured edges. Better Homes & Gardens vibes. You yard hard. Or are you not a yard person? You live next to retirees whose lawns are emerald carpets, while yours is… fifty percent grass, fifty percent dandelion democracy. They shape their bushes; I let mine pursue a more “natural look.” Either way, we all know: a great lawn starts with soil. No one plants a golf course in the desert—unless you’re Vegas, which is

The Ascent - Part 1

The Ascent - Part 1 Would you call yourself ambitious? Ambition is what gets us moving when the trail turns steep and the air gets thin. That’s why Sundays function like base camp: a place to gear up, check the map, and start climbing again. “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?” — Psalm 24:3 Mountains are a fitting picture for the life of faith. Abraham on Moriah, Moses on Sinai, Elijah on Carmel, Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration—each

Don't Fear the Dark: Part 5

When "Treats" Turns into Tricks About 46% of Americans will dress up for Halloween and 20% will dress up their pets. 0% of pets will enjoy it. (There’s even a study: dogs hate costumes—check those eyes.) A seven-year-old told his dad, “I want to be you for Halloween.” “Aww. How will you dress?” “Easy. I’ll just look tired all the time.” And that kid earned the coal of Halloween: candy-corn cookies. James 1:15 says desire conceives, then gives birth to sin, and sin—when full-g

Don't Fear the Dark: Part 4

When You Feel Like Candy Corn  Be honest: candy corn—love it or “melted traffic cones”? It’s one of the most polarizing candies on earth. Some states cheer it on; others form support groups to avoid it. Either way, candy corn knows rejection. So do we. Jesus did too. John writes, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). That stings. One Hebrew word for rejection, zanach, literally means “to stink.” When people pass us by, we start doing the sniff tes

DAN

STANFORD

The Ascent - Part 3

Comments

More Posts

The Ascent - Part 3

The Ascent - Part 2

The Ascent - Part 1

Don't Fear the Dark: Part 5

Don't Fear the Dark: Part 4

Follow Dan