Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

So it's early in the morning on April 26 of 2003, and Aaron Ralston is alone in a slot

canyon in southeastern Utah. So he's a climber in just a general adrenaline junkie,

and he's climbing down through a narrow crack in the earth that is really barely

wide enough for him to fit inside of it. And suddenly he's climbing down over a boulder when the boulder shifts under his weight.

He falls further down into the slot canyon and an 800-pound sandstone boulder drops down and eventually pins his right arm against the wall of the canyon.

So obviously this is a life-threatening and perilous situation

that is made worse by the fact that he is completely alone. No one came on this little excursion

with him. He didn't tell anyone where he was going. No one is expecting him back at a particular

time. And the water bottle he has only has enough water to sustain him for about two days.

And the temperature in Utah is rising. After he gets

his bearings and realizes the dire nature of his circumstances, he ends up spending the first day

trying to do whatever he can to move the rock, but it just doesn't budge. On day two, he decides to

start chipping away at this enormous boulder, but all he had was a dull blade on his small

multi-tool. So he quickly comes to the realization after making no progress that he's just going to die.

He's going to die in that canyon. He carves his name and birthday into the canyon wall, and he uses a

small camcorder that he has in his backpack to film a goodbye message to his family that they

can watch if they ever find it, right? Now, let's fast forward to day five. Aaron's had no water for two

full days at this point. He's reduced now to drinking his own urine to try and survive. His arm that is

trapped by the boulder is already dead. It's swollen, it's dark,

and it's already decomposing. And even in his delirious state, he has a revelation. He could stay in

the canyon and die, or he can attempt to cut off his own arm in order to free himself from the boulder.

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