Many of you heard or read about 27-year-old Aron Ralston who had his right arm pinned by an 800-pound boulder in a climbing accident. He had gone hiking in Bluejohn Canyon. He was an experienced climber, for he had already climbed over 49 other peaks in Colorado which were over 14,000 feet. He thought about what it would be like to die on the mountain and have his family find his body, or perhaps never know his fate. Ralston, a former engineer for Intel and an avid outdoorsman, thought about his options. After 5 days of being pinned, and having run out of food and water, he decided to apply a tourniquet and amputate his arm below the elbow with his pocket knife. He did, then rigged anchors and rappelled to the canyon floor with his one good arm. He walked downstream until he was spotted by a Utah Public Safety Helicopter. Because he wanted to live he was willing to cut away everything that was holding him back. (This illustration was copied from a message on SermonCentral, but I have lost the reference).
From Gene Gregory’s Sermon: Striving to Win