High Points

Last time, I mentioned how much I like holes. Well, if there’s one thing that I like way better than holes, it’s being up high. I like flying, I like being at the top of tall buildings (Sears Tower, Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Eiffel Tower, the Space Needle), and I like being up on high mountains. Over 13 years ago, I had the opportunity to take a cable car to the top of Mont Blanc in the French Alps which I believe is the highest point in all of Europe. From this point, you could see France, Italy, and Switzerland. In the middle of July wearing shorts and a windbreaker, I have never seen anything more majestic. Seriously, we were above the clouds, and we could see other snow capped mountain peaks poking through. The sky was brilliant.

Mountain top experiences have also happened for me in the general experiences of life. Recently, going to Willow Creek’s Group Life Conference was a mountain top experience. Going on vacation with my wife to Hawaii and France were both mountain top experiences for me as well. Getting away for a small groups retreat (or any other retreat for that matter) is exhilarating. Running and finishing a marathon or other race is another mountain top event which I’ve experienced.

The only bad part about being up high like this is the fact that at some point you have to come back down. We can’t always live our lives up on the mountain.

For me, we need to use the “mountain top experiences” and “valley low experiences” to positively influence the way we respond to the mundane experiences of every day life.

Until the next post…