Bill was leading the three of us when he fell through the ice on Ship Creek. He failed to realize how thin the ice was on this part of the creek. There were no obvious signs indicating thin ice. We were experienced at traveling down the creek in winter after numerous winter camping trips, but none of us anticipated his rapid fall. Even before he began to get wet, he spun around to reach for me. His face flashed a panic and fear that I have never seen since. He believed he would die.

Larry and I knew exactly what to do as we had gone over this in our minds countless times. I dropped immediately to my knees and then a fully prone position, laying myself out on the ice within reach of Bill, now thoroughly soaked. Larry duplicated my action grabbing on to my boots thus making a human chain stretched out across the ice from Bill, in the hole, through my body and Larry’s body to the end of his boots. The two of us inch-wormed away from the hole as Bill pulled and thrashed his way along with us.

Any outdoorsman will tell you, “never hike alone.” Never. This lesson was burned into our minds that day. In living out our moral lives we do well to learn this same lesson: never believe alone. Never think that your faith can be full and complete in isolation from others. Never think that your own faithful reasoning is sufficient to keep you out of trouble. You need partners in your faith, at a minimum one other person with whom you can share your most intimate thoughts.

We call this accountability, and it means that you will not engage in any questionable activity without first talking with your faith partner. He or she will hold you accountable to your faith and you will do the same for him or her. You must be close enough to be fully honest with each other.

Perhaps being accountable to each other is one of the reasons Jesus often sent his disciples out in teams of two. Our weaknesses as humans tend to provide almost limitless possibilities for us to find our way into trouble. This weakness is worse when we do not have someone we can share our thoughts and ideas with. Our partner should be strong enough in their own faith to challenge us if and when we need it.

When, like Bill, we make mistakes anyway, our faith partners can help us climb back up onto more stable ground. Our accountability partners become Jesus’ hands and voice to us as He extends His arms of grace to lift us out of the mess we often make of things.