GodReflection: Tenacious Trust
I spent the weekend on a mountain top. What I saw from my sight line energized my trust taproot.
That was not the first time I’ve seen life from the mountain top. The commonality is as I’ve topped out, sat down, catch a renewed breath, and scanned the horizon, I find a deep desire to renew my trust in the Holy.
After this past weekend I began to think of mountain top experiences that provoked a tenacious trust in others. Noah looked from the top of a flood washed mountain and saw the future.
Abraham took another step in his trust journey as he tied his only son to a mountain top alter. It was on a mountain in the presence of a fiery bush that Moses first encountered God. That one confrontation started a trust walk that is nothing less than a graphic picture of tenacity.
Disciples Peter, James, and John climbed a mountain with Jesus and found the view of trust at the crest.
I think of Dr. Martin Luther King’s final speech. Fueled from the mountain view, his tenacious trust in God set in motion an awareness of a truth already declared in our nation’s Declaration of Independence in 1776: all men are created equal.
Yet that truth had gone unobserved for almost two hundred years. So he declares on April 3, 1968, the evening prior to his assassination:
I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.
Dr. King’s mountain top view charted a new direction for an entire nation.
Now back to my recent mountain top. I spent the weekend with a handful of heroes.
In my “working life” for forty-two years I focused primarily upon making Jesus known through teams of Christ followers. The process was to recruit, train and sustain teams in great cities of Portuguese-speaking Brazil and huge Hispanic cities of South, Central, and North America.
This past weekend over a hundred people who previously served as members from twelve of forty-three teams met as one of the celebratory activities of the fortieth anniversary of Great Cities Missions.
Three views from the mountain top energized my desire to keep trusting Father, Son, and Spirit.
The underlying tenor of the event was one of gratitude and celebration—to honor God for His faithfulness.
There were the stories.
A generous time allotment was dedicated to story. Each story powered by thankfulness illustrate a grain of trust placed in the soil of a life.
With multi-decade hindsight we delighted in the witness of small seeds that had sprouted into real live kingdom trees supplying Jesus’ fruit to the nations.
The stories were funny, authentic, sad, joyous, and faith building. Families placed their trust in Jesus at a tender age, moved to an unfamiliar nation, a different culture, and a new language. Their trust was rewarded.
They introduced people made in God’s image to His Son.
Lives changed and the destiny of thousands upon thousands became authentic life now with the Holy and eternal life after the grave. Many became lifelong friends to team members and others among the multitudes will be introduced in the next reality.
There was the worship.
The multi-language worship in Spanish, Portuguese, and English was a trust builder in its own right. To sing, pray, and hear Scripture in the three languages generated vibrations of Holy Trust that penetrated present hearts once again.
There was the vitality of the people in the room.
With the exception of a few of the children and grandchildren I knew every person in the room. I had either recruited, trained, worked with, or visited with them in their adopted cities on numerous occasions.
For a large percentage wrinkles were as prevalent as their smiles and the light from their souls that sparkled through their eyes. In addition to joys and victories all present had shared in the human experience of loss, pain, disappointment and betrayal.
Yet, the gathering was filled with people who live confidently in the present and in absolute tenacious trust. They know their eternity will be sinless, pain free, and joy filled.
I sat for two days in the presence of living, breathing tenacious trust.
I am again about my daily walk having experienced the sight of a new trust vista. With renewed hope I can continue my trip through life.
I wonder if just maybe God will allow me to visit other mountain tops before I finish?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on Mountain Tops Create Tenacious Trust
God Reflection 
Thanks, Gary, for making that mountain top experience possible for so many.
LikeLike