Inspired to Keep Climbing

Inspired to Keep Climbing

The Two Words That Have Encouraged Me During Difficult Times

In November 2000, While reading an article about intense spiritual battles, the writer’s response to all the resistance was simple and strong: “Keep Climbing!”

Those two words leaped off the page and lodged deep in my heart.

Since that day I have written “Keep Climbing” in my journal nearly one hundred times—usually beside entries about resistance, weariness, opposition, and personal failure. In situations of church leadership, as I have endeavored to stand courageously for what was right—even when it brought misunderstanding and a real cost—those two words repeatedly called me forward and gave me strength.
From a different perspective, they inspired me again in July 2026 as I reflected on our climb to the top of West Spanish Peak in southern Colorado.

The Master and the Faithful

One of the greatest inspirations in my own walk to keep climbing has come from observing the life of Jesus Christ. He stayed focused and never allowed opposition to distract Him from the purpose of God. In my words, He kept climbing.

I have discovered, however, that ascending with God often begins by going lower. True spiritual height is reached through humility—by descending, by lowering ourselves, by keeping climbing further down into the place of service and surrender. John Henry Newman captured it well:

“I sought to hear the voice of God, and climbed the topmost steeple,
But God declared: Go back down, I dwell among the people.”

Jesus lived this truth. When the time came that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, knowing the cross awaited Him there. Criticism and hostility never diverted Him from the Father’s will or from the needs of others. In John 8 the religious leaders took up stones to cast at Him. Jesus hid Himself, went out of the temple, and passed through the midst of them. The very next verse records, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth”. Instead of withdrawing, Jesus healed the man. Fresh from near-stoning, He kept ministering. Resistance never distracted the Master. He kept climbing—and He kept serving.

The same steadfast spirit appears in the lives of other servants of God.

Consider Daniel. When his enemies crafted a law specifically designed to destroy him, Daniel heard the threats, fully understood the danger, and foresaw what was coming. Yet he did not panic, compromise, or alter his walk with God. He quietly continued kneeling in prayer three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem, just as he had always done. There is always spiritual gain when we remain faithful. What looked like certain death in the lions’ den became one of the most remarkable victories recorded in Scripture, bringing glory to God and unexpected favor to Daniel.

Paul’s testimony has also encouraged me: “The Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great” (Acts 26:21-22). He received help from God, kept climbing, and kept speaking.

For the glory of Christ and to finish the work before us, we must keep climbing!

Watchman Nee once wrote that every servant of God must live with the sense that he is a dying man with limited time. How can anyone be slothful under such a reality? That searching thought has often examined my own life.

West Spanish Peak – July 2026

These truths were powerfully demonstrated during our annual three-day family retreat in July 2026. On one of those days ten of us—my wife Lydia and I (both in our sixties), a few of our married children, and three of our teenage grandsons, Chad, Alex, and Kaiden—set out to climb West Spanish Peak. The mountain rises to 13,631 feet, - about thirty minutes from where we were staying, with much of its steepest climbing concentrated above treeline.

The ascent soon became intense and exhausting. Shortly after the halfway mark I watched Chad. Already weary, he appeared to lack the energy and motivation needed for the far harder section still ahead. His steps had grown slow and heavy. I sincerely doubted whether he would make the summit. Yet something began to shift. In the midst of visible weariness and uncertainty, Chad quietly regained his focus. A fresh determination settled over him. Without fanfare he straightened, set his face toward the heights still above us, and kept moving forward. Watching a young man reclaim his courage against the pull of exhaustion was moving to my heart.

Alex’s struggle turned even more serious. Approximately three-quarters of the way up, on a very steep pitch and under the stress of rapid altitude change, he began vomiting from pure exhaustion—his face extremely pale. I concluded there was no realistic chance he could recover enough for the most difficult climb remaining. My wife Lydia and I paused beside him, making sure he drank healthy fluids and ate energy bars. We fully expected he would have to turn back.

Yet against every natural expectation, Alex regained his courage. Slowly the color returned to his face. He rose, fixed his eyes on the summit, and chose to continue. His determination in the face of overwhelming odds was extraordinary. One labored step after another he pressed on until he stood victorious on the top. Even there, at 13,631 feet, the intensity of the climb overtook him again and he vomited once more—yet he had made it. Watching a young man refuse to quit and prevail against such odds was profoundly inspiring.

Through every circumstance the entire group kept climbing. One labored step after another, each of the ten—young and older, strong and spent—victoriously reached the top. Standing there at 13,631 feet, filled with joy, we celebrated as a family. Kaiden was one of the first to reach the summit. His joy was increased even more when his brother Alex and his cousin Chad also made it. The same two words I had written in my journal a hundred times rose once more: We just need to- Keep climbing. The view was magnificent, but the greater wonder was that we had all arrived. It stirs a deeper longing for eternity, when every believer who has kept climbing will stand together in perfect joy at the true summit.

Perhaps you find yourself in a place today—weary, uncertain, or even exhausted. There is no shame in pausing long enough to be refreshed. Abide in the love of God. Drink deeply of God’s grace.

But do not lose the vision.

Do not surrender the summit.

Rise again… and keep climbing.

Still Climbing

That day on West Spanish Peak has become a living parable for my own walk with God. The Christian life often leads us into steep and exhausting stretches—spiritual battle, the weakness of the flesh, tribulation, failure, and seasons of weariness. As we all do; I have felt those stretches myself. Yet by the grace of God I purpose to keep climbing.

As apostle Paul wrote: In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

The same grace that sustained Jesus, Daniel, and Paul will sustain us. We are dying men with limited time. Therefore we cannot stop. The Lord Jesus who kept ministering while stones were being gathered to kill Him is walking with us and will surely give us the strength to continue.

The summit is never reached by those who give up in the middle of the climb.

For more than twenty-five years “Keep Climbing” has been a faithful companion.

I now pass those two words on to you: Keep climbing.

For the Glory of His Name,

Aaron Beiler