Mountain Tops
Yesterday was International Mountain Day. Mountains have always fascinated me because of their beauty, their rugged difficulty, and their call to adventure. They are places of peace and learning, but also of perseverance and testing. A mountain calls you higher, and it demands something from you. Arthur Gordon once wrote, “To find endurance, all we have to do is seek out places where great and elemental things prevail. For some of us the sea. For others, the mountains, as the Psalmist knew.”
Mountains were often strategic sites in Scripture, too. Moses climbed Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Jesus withdrew to the mountains to pray.
The disciples watched Jesus transfigured up on a high ridge.
Mountains mark moments of identity formation, revelation, and strength!
This past summer our youth group went to the mountains of New Mexico for a multi-church camp. It was full of fun, competition, worship, and growth. In that setting many of our kids heard from God, found new freedom, and left with fresh vision. We prepared them to go with purpose, reminding them that we don’t drift into intimacy with God, we climb toward it.
That lesson shows up in mountaineering itself. In 1889, Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller became the first recorded climbers to summit Kilimanjaro, but only after two failed attempts. Their success came from being strategic. They established camps along the route for rest and resupply, so they could keep pressing higher without having to start over at the base. They didn’t summit by pure luck. They planned for it. And even after failed attempts, they kept moving forward!
And then, once the summit is reached, the real test begins: what will you do with what you’ve gained? How will you use what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown?
We implored our young people to hold on to and activate the gifts they received on the mountain. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to conquer Everest in 1953, but their greatest legacy was not their moment at the summit, it was what they did with their lives afterward. Hillary built schools and hospitals, launched environmental efforts, and strengthened communities across Nepal. Norgay trained thousands of young climbers and elevated his people — the Sherpa people — to global recognition. Their mountaintop moment wasn’t wasted. Their achievement on the mountain multiplied the impact of their lives.
That’s the same invitation God gives us. Your encounter with Him at camp, in prayer, or on a retreat, was never meant to stay on the mountain. Moses came down from Sinai with his face glowing (Exodus 34:29). What God does in you up there is meant to show up through you down here.
The way to keep it alive is through daily, practical disciplined decision making. Read Scripture before you reach for your phone. Take a walk without distractions and listen. Share what God is speaking with a friend. Build a playlist that stirs your soul. Journal what He’s teaching you. Small, strategic choices keep the mountaintop fresh when the routines of life set in.
The prophet Isaiah gave us a vision of the ultimate mountaintop: “There’s a day coming when the Mountain of God’s house will be THE Mountain—solid, towering over all mountains. All nations will river toward it… They’ll say, ‘Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain… He’ll show us the way He works so we can live the way we’re made’” (Isaiah 2:2–3, MSG).
Attack the mountain. Test yourself and persevere. Steal away for a reset. Learn there and grow. And then, bring back what you gain. Apply it into your daily life. Your testimony and experience with God is a key to influencing and impacting others. Your mountaintop moment isn’t just for you.
Let’s live today, like mountaintop mentors.