"There is still
work to do, and that work is down the mountain." (Ackley, Curtis S. "March 8." The
Upper Room Disciplines 2009. Nashville, TN: Upper Room, 2009. 79.
Print.)
The
summer I spent in Zambia was ended with a week long debriefing during which we
worked through a book entitled "Miraculous Mountains to
Victorious Valleys." The title has stuck with me since then and I've
referred to it many times in conversations. While as Christians these
"mountain top" experiences we have, the times when we are filled with
joy, laughter, and/or in awe of what we are seeing and experiencing, are
fantastic and encouraging, we do not stay on the mountain tops forever. Our
life changes, we hit rough points, death, stress, sickness, world events, and
so much more can leave us in a dark valley.
I've
come to know that these dark valleys can be places that I see, experience, and
trust God more fully then the mountain top places. One such experience would
have been the sudden passing of my 16 year old brother Shaun when I was 8 years
old. God was the one who understood how my 8 year old self was feeling and
doing, and it was God who stayed each moment with me, cried with me, and
understood me. God carried me through that dark valley. I came out stronger and
more confident in God and over time as I have experienced many ups and downs my
faith has grown and desire more to know God and to share God with those around
me.
Today
I was spending some time reading Mark 9: 2-10 a passage about
Jesus' transfiguration on a mountaintop with 2 disciples (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%209:2-10&version=NIV).
As I was reading the coinciding devotional referenced above the author wrote
about how the disciples must have wanted to stay on the mountain top to soak
up, understand, and mark this event (the passage says they wanted to set up
tents), but the event ends and they go back down the mountain. The author
writes "There is still work to do, and that work is down the
mountain," while the author was referencing the rest of Jesus' time
on this earth, I cannot help but see how applicable this sentence is to our
lives. While we desire to stay on the high mountaintop moments of life, Jesus
knows that we have more growing to do and more of God to share with others so
that all may experience the Mountain Tops with God, and grow in the
Victorious Valleys. So that together we can encourage one another, know God
more, and journey the valleys and mountain tops together.
