Excerpted from It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God’s Favor by Joel Osteen. Copyright © 2009 by Joel Osteen. Excerpted with permission by Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
From It's Your Time
By Joel Osteen
Chapter 1
You’re Closer Than You Think!
While on vacation in Colorado, I woke up early for a hike. The three-mile trail ran to the peak of Beaver Creek Mountain. At the
base a sign said it should take about three hours to reach the top.
Looking up to my destination, I was intimidated. The trail was extremely steep. The altitude at the base was 8,000 feet above sea level. The peak stood at more than 11,000 feet.
Just walking up the first set of stairs, I began breathing heavier than normal. I had to remind myself to take it easy. At home in Houston,
I run several miles a few times a week and play a lot of basketball. But the elevation there is only fifty feet above sea level. The thinner
air in the Colorado mountains had me doubting whether I could make it to the top.
I started out with just my cell phone and a bottle of water. Determined, I set a pretty good pace. The first fifteen minutes seemed fairly easy. The next fifteen minutes were increasingly difficult. I felt as though I were carrying an extra load. I had to stop every so often to catch my breath.
About forty-five minutes into my hike, the trail got extremely steep—almost like I was climbing straight up. My pathway snaked skyward through thick stands of aspen and ponderosa pine. The view was both beautiful and daunting. Despite the fact I am in shape from running and playing basketball, my legs were burning
and my chest was pounding.