The Jesus Climb

"Despite this seemingly insurmountable obstacle, the day came when Jesus' first followers-flawed and broken people very much like you and me-reached the spiritual summit of other-centered love. By focusing upon Jesus' teaching on what it meant to be his disciple-a word used over 260 times in the New Testament-rather than the word Christian-a word used only three times, it is possible to discern how Jesus accomplished this miracle. Using an acclimatization strategy not unlike Mallory, Jesus' set up a base camp in the relatively thick spiritual air of his followers' first spiritual steps. Then by his teaching and example, guided his followers along a series of expedition camps leading toward the summit long two interrelated yet distinct pathways. First, the Ascent of a higher and higher commitment to loving God and neighbor with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength via the camps of Desire, Instruction, Surrender, and Community. Second, the Descent into a deeper and deeper experience of God's intimate, transforming, through other-centered love, through the expedition camps of Intimacy, Prayer, Love, and Endurance"--