June 29, 2008

• Moutaintops in Perspective –Hope Chronicles 50

  The last few weeks, my She Speaks prep has consumed my time and energy. As I write that, I am struck by the thought, “When have you let God consume so much of your time and energy?” Hopefully, it was for God’s glory, but so much time an energy went into the book proposal and the talks and the packing and the fretting over being liked or not liked while I was there, . . . . Now, I am post She Speaks by four days.
  
  In my InterVarsity Christian Fellowship days, I often found there to be an immediate slump after big events. I would be tired and grouchy and irritable. While I admit, I’m starting to have a bit of a slump (I’m a bit on the touchy side today), there was none of the immediate, overwhelming deflation that I have previously encountered. I’m not sure why that is and it isn’t that God didn’t meet me in those earlier events. I believe He did.
  
  But I experienced something profound this past weekend — God utterly delighting over me. I know He probably always has, but still it was so sweet . . . . Part of me didn’t want the conference to end. I half thought moving to NC might not be so bad or maybe I could join some of my bloggy friends in their neck of the woods. But then I would miss my friends and church here.
  
  She Speaks was a mountaintop experience. But I have learned that most of us do not live on “mountaintops.” While those times are refreshing and wonderful, most of us are called to live out our walk in the daily things of life: mowing the grass, interacting with coworkers, doing the laundry, making dinner, running errands, . . . . These things may make us say, “Can’t the mountaintop experience go on forever?”
  
  Scripture tells us that Moses met with God as a man meets with a friend. Yet, even Moses had to come down from the mountaintop and he was greeted with God’s Chosen People dancing around an idol and grumbling about how much better life back in Egypt was. (They were a thankless lot!)
  
  And then there is Elijah. 1 Kings 18 and 19 Elijah sees God work in mighty ways. But he freaks when the king’s wife takes a bounty out on his head. (Okay, I might have been worried too.) He flees and God eventually leads Him to a cave on a mountain. He actually whines (in my opinion) to God. My version: “I’ve done all this for you and they’ve killed all these people and I am the only one left. Did you hear me? Now they are going to kill me!”
  
  God does not get into a test of wills with Elijah. Rather, God tells him to “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” There is a great wind that shattered rocks, an earthquake, and a fire. But God is not in any of these. But then there is a gentle whisper and Elijah stands at the mouth of the cave and God gives him a glimpse of Himself.
  
  And God asks again, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”
  
  Elijah repeats the litany.
  
  God responds, “Go back the way you came.” (Get back to day to day life). He goes on to promise that he is sending Elijah a partner and that Elijah is not alone — there are 7,000 who still worship God.
  
  So, post She Speaks means getting back to day to day life.
  
  But it also means remembering all that God did there. Just as God reminded Elijah of the 7,000, I am praying He will continue to remind me of all that I learned and experienced and the fellowship I experienced. I’ve been making a list. It’s now 5 journal pages with bullets to help remind me when things get tough.
  
  Like Moses and Elijah, most of us are not meant to live on mountaintops. But we are called to remember them. And through remembering them we can be strengthened in the day to day life and even in the valleys. It is in remembering that we often find that glorious thing called hope.
  
  If you went to She Speaks or even if you didn’t, what is one strengthening memory you have? Please leave it here in the comment section or a link to the story on your site. I look forward to hearing how God uses the mountaintops to prepare you for day to day life.
  

  • 9:33 pm
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