Matthew 7:13-14 Yeshua/Jesus: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Years ago, Ben and I went up to Fernie, BC to go cat skiing at Island Lake Lodge. Access to the skiing was exclusively by snow cat. We skied a huge bowl topped by a narrow ridge.
On this particular day, the guide told us about the upcoming run as we sat in the cat on the way up to the top of the ridge. There were 13 of us skiers – 12 men, and me as the only woman in the cat. He explained that on this run, on the upper part we were free to ski whatever line we chose. However, when he signaled us, from that point forward we were to follow precisely in his tracks. He did not say why, but his tone and his face were very serious, and he repeated himself several times.
We offloaded at the top of the narrow ridge, and our guide led us to the edge of the bowl and we launched onto a gorgeous wide-open area of untracked powder above tree line. Gloriously fun!
As we neared the tree line, the guide stopped and gave us the signal to follow precisely in his tracks. And we did…. all except for one man who decided that he wanted fresh tracks and decided to go a bit off to the side of the tracks laid by the guide.
All of sudden, we heard a screaming shout. We couldn’t see anything, but the second guide veered away and went in the direction of the shout. What he found, we heard about when we all regathered at the cat.
As the man who chose his own way skied to the side of our guide’s tracks, suddenly, right at the tips of his rocketing skis gaped a deep crevasse lined with rocks and ice on either side of its cliffs. The man launched off the side of the crevasse and his ski tips drove deep into the snow on the top of the other side. His momentum carried him forward so that his body was thrown onto the snow just beyond the lip of the cliff. He was rescued by the second guide.
We returned soberly to the lodge. The man was ghost white and shaking the entire time – and entirely silent. When we got to the lodge, he began drinking heavily and the story eventually came out. He knew just how close he came to dying that day, and the experience left him completely undone.
The tracks laid by the guide that we were to follow were narrow tracks, but the guide knew the only way to get safely down the mountain, and none of the rest of us really did. Jesus/Yeshua knows the only way to the Father and eternal life – by His narrow path. Like the guide, He warns us to follow closely His narrow path, because any other path leads to sure (eternal) death.