I almost died one winter day as a 13-year-old playing ice hockey with my older brother Miles on a frozen lake in Nevada’s majestic Sierra Mountains. The last thing I remember is chasing an errant puck toward the middle of the lake, hitting thin ice, and then plunging into the frigid abyss. I can still recall the sound of ice breaking like glass and the bone-chilling cold that seized my body. But most of all I remember trying to climb out and having the ice simply break away before my brother’s hockey stick pulled me to safety onto the frozen surface.
I hadn’t thought about that event for a long time until a FROZEN LAKE metaphor showed up last night in a drama running on HULU. Here it is:
“Our FROZEN LAKE is the name for a strong desire that prompts our heart to take over. We think the prize is within our grasp in the middle of a frozen lake. We think we’re fast enough to grab it before the ice cracks. What we don’t realize is that it will destroy us if we continue because we are already on thin ice that is about to break away.”
The connection to our faith walk is painfully clear—our FROZEN LAKE is money, fame, respect, power, lust, and well…you fill in the blank. Those are the things we see in the middle of a frozen lake and convince ourselves to “just go get it!”
That was my FROZEN LAKE earlier in my faith walk and it is the same for millions of others around the world who make this internal chant: You know what you want. C’mon, take the risk. Set a goal. Pray. Work hard. Stick with it. Sacrifice. Don’t turn back. You’ll get it.
WRONG!
If I’m going to take a risk, I want to make it be for God. For my ministry. For my purpose on earth.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What’s your FROZEN LAKE?
I ask God to keep me aware at all times of the seductive pull of what resides in the middle of life’s FROZEN LAKE. I ask him to draw me into his inner sanctuary for safety and strength.
“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:13-15
