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bigmike

Learn the Lesson
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Psalm 32:8-11
It is not uncommon for climbers on Japan's Mount Fuji to need help. So the call received on April 22, 2025, that a climber was suffering altitude sickness was no surprise. The mountain is only officially open for climbing from July to September, but many people try to climb it outside that window. The safety team responded and airlifted a twenty-seven-year-old Chinese student who was going to school in Japan to safety. The surprise came when they received another distress call four days later. The same student had returned to the mountain to look for his cell phone and other things left behind, and he was suffering from altitude sickness again. Another climber had to make the call for help so he could be rescued from almost exactly the same location as before.
Sometimes we are slow to learn from the experiences of life. The painful consequences of bad decisions are some of the best teachers, but if we refuse to listen we will find ourselves having to “repeat” our classes. Rather than being obstinate or blaming others when things go wrong, we should be quick to evaluate whether we have done something that produced the problem. Of course because we live in a fallen world not every unpleasant experience is because of something we did or failed to do. But we need to be on alert for any lessons we can learn from hardships to better align our lives with God's direction. “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise” (Proverbs 15:31).
Making a mistake is not nearly as big a problem as repeating the same mistake again and again.___
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