Jim Bridewell.  Unless you're a mountain climber, you have probably not heard of Jim Bridewell.  Jim passed away last week at the age of 73.  To the end, Jim did what he wanted to do.  Like one of his counterparts, the late John Bacchar, who climbed unroped all of his life, Jim lived openly and freely:  he let nothing and no one stand in his way.
     When I read Jim's obituary, I thought of Ecclesiastes 11:9-10, "Rejoice, young person, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young personhood.  And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes.  Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things."
     God's world is a book, a book waiting to be opened.  We human beings walk before unspeakably marvelous possibilities.  Life is a wonder beyond imagination.
     Yet it's only a wonder because it is of God.  What a glorious tension!
     Farewell, Jim Bridewell.  The mountains shine for you.