Elite Athletes Encounter GodSample

Knowing God

Helfried Sieder (Austria)
Mountain and Ski guide, innkeeper, mountain farmer.
Completed over 4000 mountain guides. 

I grew up on a small mountain farm. Since my childhood, my brother and I had to help out with work at home. Not much time was left for free time and sports. Then again, the hard work, being outside, and the daily way to school were a good preparation for my future passion - a life in my mountains. After my apprenticeship as an agricultural machine builder, I discovered the mountains as my playing field. As a mountain guide and ski teacher I turned my passion into my profession. Ski touring and climbing were more than a hobby for me - they were my purpose in life. Every spare minute I invested into the mountains. Since then, I have undertaken thousands of mountain tours both nationally and internationally. Looking back, I have to say that in those years I was truly a driven person. For a very long time my Christianity was reduced to attending church at Christmas, Good Friday, Pentecost, and Thanksgiving. Several of my mountain guide colleagues talked about God as if they knew Him personally. 

My wife Birgit was also a Christian, but in a different way compared to me. With her it was vibrant. Without noticing I learned to get closer to Christ through her. One day I let her convince me to attend a church service. That sermon, and several personal conversations with friends who were believers brought me on the path of faith. Today I am forever grateful for that. Throughout the years I learned not to live as a driven person, but as a person with a calling. Through my relationship with Jesus Christ I still continue and like to go to the mountains, but with a different and much greater joy. I am less stressed out to do mountain tours just to prove something to myself or others. I feel much more liberated and under less pressure. It is such a grace to realize that it is our relationship to Jesus Christ that gives us freedom to be human. Almost every day I thank God that He freed me from my “me”-addiction and gave me true contentment.

Action Step

God also wants to encounter YOU. Invite the Holy Spirit to read the bible passage with you and expect that he will speak to you. Trust that God will show you the steps you should take in your own life. Ask Him for strength and courage to follow his voice.