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| Sandy on her Sinai Adventure |
Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.
Yesterday’s message centered on that obscure verse in Exodus
24 that reveals Joshua accompanied Moses to the top of Mount Sinai to receive
the Ten Commandments. On the way home after the service my wife, Sandy, said, “I
could have added something to that sermon today. I know why Moses took Joshua
with him to the top of the mountain.”
I was wondering if she had discovered something in the
Exodus text that I had missed. She had certainly piqued my curiosity. “So, tell
me why Moses took Joshua with him.”Sandy proceeded to remind me of our own trek to the top of Sinai.
Early on Monday morning, March 12, 2007, and I mean really
early, Sandy and I began our adventure of climbing Mount Sinai. Wake-up call
came at 1:00am. After the short bus ride to the base of the mountain we were
paired up with a camel and camel driver for the first two-thirds of the way up
Sinai. I named my camel Chewbacca because he sounded exactly like the Wookie in
Star Wars, no kidding. When my kneeling camel, and it was huge, made that loud
angry Wookie growl just as I was getting on I wasn’t too sure about this mode
of transportation up the mountain. There is no ski lift at Sinai, so I climbed
on Chewy and held on for dear life. Chewy was feisty and fast. We passed 8 or
10 camels on the 8 foot wide path that zigzagged up the mountain. Sandy’s camel
had a few problems. She had the youngest
camel driver, a 15 year-old Bedouin boy. She had to dismount after a short way
so the young driver could tighten the cinch. Sandy’s camel fell far behind our
group, but in the darkness no one knew. This was no little kiddie ride like
you’d see at a zoo; this was an hour-and-a-half climb up a steep mountain path.
The scariest part for me was when Chewbacca got close to the edge of the path
allowing me, or perhaps forcing me, to peer down the sheer cliff beside the
path. Chewy and the other camels were sure-footed and everyone made it to
walking point two-thirds of the way up Sinai with Sandy arriving about 20 nervous
minutes after everyone else.
There are literally 750 steps to the top from the place we dismounted the camels, and they are not easy steps. They were steps of varying height chiseled out of the stone face of the mountain often with the mountain wall on one side and a shear drop on the other. Sandy and started the long climb together. At about the half-way point her knees were hurting so bad she had to stop. I encouraged her to keep going, that we’d go slow and take plenty of rest stops. But it was no use; she was done. She told me to go on without her, and she’d wait at that spot till I returned. So went on to the top alone. That’s when she witnessed the reason Moses took Joshua with him up the mountain.
The place she had stopped had a large group of people that couldn’t go on. Enterprising young Bedouin boys were there as well, offering their services to the elderly and worn-out pilgrims who wanted to go on to the top. Some would hire two Bedouins, with one on each side to support and lift them to each succeeding step, they went on. Sandy passed on the opportunity to hire the human walking sticks, but she remembered watching others do so while listening to my sermon. “Moses was an old man when the people arrived at Sinai,” she said. “He needed Joshua to physically support him to get to the top of the mountain.”
She is probably right. And that leads me to a fifth thing Joshua must have learned about spiritual leadership as he assisted Moses to the crest of Sinai. Spiritual leaders are humble enough to admit they need help and rely on younger faithful learners along the way. Spiritual leadership is never a solo experience. I don’t mean they know how to delegate, although that’s true too. I mean they need help in leading… fresh ideas, different perspectives, challenging questions, and encouragement. This mentoring thing, you see, is a two-way street. That means listening to those we lead as well as instructing them and being grateful for the young Joshuas in our lives.
