Mountain Tops

Mountain tops are always a blessing.  Those times where you feel like Peter, like you are in the very midst of God - the awe and splendor are overwhelming and you feel as if you really could move the very mountain you are standing on.  Those experiences are also, for the most part, few and far between.

When I find myself on a mountain top (incidentally, my mountain tops at times occur at places like Winterfest, Gulf Coast Getaway, powerfully emotional conferences - but often times, probably due to my inherently introverted nature, my mountain tops come when I'm completely alone), I usually feel like Peter also in the fact that I want to build God and myself tents to stay right there and never come back down in to the reality of this world.

Mountain top experiences are great, powerful, and life changing.  They renew us.  However, our faith can not be propped up on those experiences.  See, the danger of mountain tops is that eventually, we all have to come down.  Too often, when people lose that spiritual clarity and simplicity that they felt on the mountain top (and we all do) they begin to question God and their own place within Him.

Ever felt that?  Have you ever gone from feeling like you could stretch out your fingers and touch the very hand of God one day and then the next week when you didn't feel that close you weren't sure if God was even listening?  Mountain tops are so high, and this world is so low, we must focus on maintaining our faith in both places.

For the next several entries (the next one will come on Tuesday) we're going to explore 'faith':  what is it, what is it based on, and what is our role in it.