Post Super Summer 1: Coming Down from the Mountain

This post and several to follow will speak to our Super Summer students, but there will be things here that can help any believer in his or her walk. So, don’t turn away from this if you didn’t attend Super Summer this last week.

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Super Summer was a great week. There were around one-hundred-eighty students who gathered together to worship God and grow in their discipleship. Though there were certainly a few moments that were a disappointment—Twinkies are at the top of the list here—a vast many more moments showed us the power of God, the joy of worship, and the life-impacting glory of his word.

Now, for the most part, students are back home. They are no longer studying together for six lessons per day. There are no longer three small group discussions for students to talk and pray together about the working of God in their lives. There are no longer guys strumming guitars and leading in worship songs all over the place. And, perhaps hardest of all, the homes of the students did not change simply because they went away for a week.

In Luke 9:28-50, we see a picture of Jesus and some of his disciples going through a great, spiritual high-point. Jesus led three of his disciples up a mountain. While there, the three saw Jesus in his unveiled glory. They saw the beautiful majesty of Christ and his position of supremacy over the Old Testament saints. They even heard the voice of God the Father declaring the glory and authority of Christ. They did not want to go home.

But, they had to come down from the mountain. They had to step back into normal life. And when they stepped into normal life, they walked right back into the middle of a fallen, sin-filled, devil-attacked world. They saw spiritual warfare that they could not conquer on their own. They found themselves fighting for social position. They heard Jesus talking about the fact that he was going to die, though they did not totally understand this plan. They found the ugliness of life again crashing down around them.

Super Summer students are experiencing some of this right now. Students have left the campus of the college, and they have walked back into conflicted homes, petty squabbles, youth group popularity contests, sinful friends, and all the rest. This is no surprise to God. God has a mission for us that involves us being salt and light in a fallen world. God has a mission for us that involves us being workers to build his kingdom in the middle of a world that does not want to respond to him. God will be the victor, but the victory will not be simple and easy for our lives right away.

So, students, what do you do? First, don’t let the disciplines that you learned fall away. If you learned to read your Bible, to pray, to worship God, continue to do those things. You don’t need a big worship band or gifted teacher to worship God and learn from his word. Make the time. Turn off the TV, IPod, cel phone, Xbox, DVD player, etc., and sit down with your Bible. Maybe you have to go outside. Maybe you have to hide in your room. Maybe you have to hide in the closet. Do what you have to do to have time to read God’s word, pray, and sing or just speak to God how wonderful he is.

Over the next few posts, I will be sharing some ideas of things that students and others might do regularly to help keep their spiritual lives moving forward. If you have questions or ideas, feel free to send them my way. For today, why not read that Luke passage I linked above and thank God that he understands what it is like to come down from the mountain into the thick of a messed up world. Thank him that he will not leave you alone in yours. Ask him to help you to serve him right now, right where you are.