Author: Carolyn P. Simoneaux, Ed.D.
Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa and its snow-covered peak can be seen from many miles away on a clear day. Moshi, where we lived in Tanzania, is on the slope of this beautiful mountain. Its lovely view is what we often saw first thing in the morning, and last thing at might.
Every year, students from the mission boarding school in East Africa, where our daughters attended junior high and high school, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. In 1988, the group of students had dinner at our house before starting their rigorous hike up the mountain. We asked the students how many of them they thought would make it. Their answer was an emphatic, "EVERYONE". They had decided among themselves that they would help one another and no one would be left behind.
Five days later, when they returned for dinner again, they were sunburned and footsore. When asked how many made it to the top, the answer was again, an emphatic, "EVERYONE". Several of the girls had to be helped by their classmates, but everyone made it by pulling together. This is one of the best examples of teamwork and community spirit I have ever seen.
We, as Spirit Filled Christians, are not an island to ourselves. We need one another. Together, we can make it to the top of our mountain. Together, we can help one another to make it.
Nimrod and his followers (Genesis 10, 11) taught us what unity of purpose could do. God said, of them, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." (Genesis 11: 6-7 NIV). Their purpose was to make themselves a great nation and become like God. Our purpose of unity should be to work together for the Kingdom and to help one another. Paul put it this way in Colossians 3:13-14, “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
This would be a good day to reach out and help a brother or a sister climb a little higher.