I’m about to finish reading “The Indifferent Stars Above” by Daniel James Brown – the tragic story of the famous Donner Party, after whom Donner Pass and Donner Lake in northeastern California are named.
It’s about a group of emigrants who left rural Illinois on foot and in horse-drawn wagons in the spring of 1846 to find a better life in California where the climate and pending theft of the territory from Mexico promised prosperity.
Led by brothers Jacob and George Donner, the group of nearly 90 people tried a new and supposedly shorter route to California. They soon encountered rough terrain and numerous delays and eventually became trapped by heavy snowfall high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Starving and weakened by the cold and harsh conditions, they were reported to have resorted to cannibalism. Only about half of the group reached California the following year. As their story became widely known, “Donner Party” became associated with one of society’s most ingrained taboos.
Incredible Determination
But the association with cannibalism is unfortunate because the group exhibited an incredible amount of determination and courage. Again and again, they struggled to save themselves, but the highly unusual amount of snow, the depletion of their resources, widespread illness and weakness and an ignorance about the topography doomed them.
It occurs to me that among the qualities exhibited by the Donner Party, one stands out for those of us searching for God: determination. So just what is determination?
One of the dictionary’s definitions is the “firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end.” It also includes, I believe, the resolve to overcome obstacles, and there are many in the search for God.
Among them is the society in which we live. To be honest, there’s much to be said in society’s defense. The world is full of innovative, productive people who have made life easier, tamed horrible diseases and geometrically increased knowledge of ourselves and our universe.
Largely Overcome
Many historical evils – such as slavery, despotism and ignorance – have been largely overcome. And despite what we may see on the Evening News, I believe the vast majority of people are kind, compassionate and basically good.
But it’s not a good time to search for God. God and religion are becoming subjects that are as taboo as cannibalism. Consumerism and prosperity – in the western world, at least – make the ideas of dependence on God and trust in him/her as quaint as the dial telephone. Many young people are turned off by traditional religion with its perceived emphasis on doctrine, ritual and authority. And widespread reports of clergy abuse of children and other malfeasance among believers does nothing to make “church” more attractive.
But the greatest obstacle in our search for God may be ourselves. We may lack the grit it takes to be independent of society’s pulls and shoves. We may allow ourselves to be so busy with our lives, we have little time to be thoughtful about life itself. We may lack the courage to take the risk that’s required of faith, to accept uncertainty, just as we do about every other aspect of life.
Courage Counts
Courage, after all, is a critical component of determination. Winston Churchill, who continually encouraged his people during the dark period of the intensive bombing of England during World War II, is said to have asserted: “Success is not final, failure not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”
In writing to inhabitants of Corinth in Greece only a dozen or so years after Jesus’ death, the apostle Paul provided his own lesson in determination with an analogy to athletics.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wealth, but we an imperishable one.”
