Climbing

Think about mountaintop experiences.

When I was in high school, my youth group went on a two week trip across the country.  Each evening the bus stopped at a different church, we performed our "tour" show for the congregation, spent the night with members of the congregation and then went to the next town the next day.  In El Paso, Texas we spent a week leading vacation bible schools for children.  It was truly a mountaintop experience that still influences my life today.

I read a devotional yesterday that compared mountaintop experiences to mountain climbing.  One cannot arrive on top of the mountain without climbing it, and climbing the mountain is hard work. 

That trip in high school took months and months to plan.  We had rehearsals, fund raisers, meetings to plan VBS lessons.  We drove for hour and hours, hauled equipment, ran cords, set up lights.  It was all hard work.  But without the hard work, we never would have made it up the mountain.

To see the transfiguration of Jesus, the disciples had to climb the mountain.  We talk alot about how they left the mountain and went to where the work was to be done - back in the valley.  Do we ever consider the work that had to be done to get to the top of the mountain? 

If we want to see Jesus face to face, if we want to experience the mountaintop, maybe we need to get busy working to get there -- study, service, prayer.