Do you remember the times when a sense of accomplishment and clarity ushered in a rush of positive emotions? Mountaintop experiences form some of the highlights of our lives. And they are often transformational. So why do we still struggle when we come down from the summit?

I was looking at chapter 9 of the book of Mark where we find Jesus leading Peter, James and John up a “high mountain.” What happened next was supernatural. Jesus’ appearance was “transfigured” and “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.” On top of that, the two icons of the Jewish faith, Elijah and Moses (long dead in human terms), appeared with Jesus and they had a conversation. It had to have been a powerful time in Jesus’ life.

I thought about that mountain top experience for Jesus relative to his struggles that came a short time later in Gethsemane. In chapter 14, Mark says Jesus was “deeply distressed and troubled.” Jesus himself said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” We can’t fully comprehend what happened for Jesus on that mountain but it is safe to say he was changed in some way. Yet that experience did not eliminate the grief that came from facing a gruesome death.

So, what does that say about mountaintop experiences? Simply this: They give us perspective. Summits give us an enhanced understanding of the lower regions so that when we return we think and act differently. But they do not change the realities of our lives. Our circumstances are not made better: we are!

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
- Rene Daumal from Mount Analogue

Our mountaintop experiences DO change us (but not our circumstances).

Warren Bird, the Director of Research and Intellectual Capital for Leadership Network, recently published a blog, Awe-Inspiring: Innovative Leaders Encouraged by How God is Moving, commenting on the 104 interviews he conducted in 2011 with “influential” churches across the US. His summary comment coming away from those interviews was energizing:

“I was so amazed by what God was doing in their midst, I wanted to be part of every one of them…There is a genuine sense of wonder, excitement and encouragement about how God is moving—despite tough economies and challenging jobless rates.”

Those were churches that had been identified as “influential” before the interviews. What would we find if we took a cross section of all US churches? We get some indication from research, What People Experience in Churches, reported by the Barna Group in January of this year.

Some of what they found is encouraging:
- “Most people (66%) feel they have had ‘a real and personal connection’ with God while attending church.”