Heh. 2 days in a row I’m posting something in reference to Robert Hruzek’s Middlezone Musings. Robert has a monthly group writing project called What I Learned From (WILF)… The current theme is WILF A Mountaintop Experience. I was intrigued by this topic, and I actually have thoughts on it. 🙂
Many many years ago I went on a missions trip to Mexico with a group from my church. On the trip we witnessed to people with songs and drama, visited a prison and an orphanage, and in general got really close to each other and to God. We even camped out overnight on a mountain, but that’s not exactly what I want to talk about here.
If you’ve ever been on a short-term mission trip you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say that you come back on quite a high emotionally. It takes a while to come back down to earth and the reality of normal existence.
When we returned to our church the following Sunday each team member was asked to stand up and report to the congregation how the trip had gone and what we’d gotten out of it.
One young man (still in high school) was especially affected by the experience, and he stood up in front of about 300 people and told them how great it had been, how much we’d grown and gotten close to God, and then he told them:
“…and all of you are spiritually DEAD!”
Yeah. That wasn’t smooth. Thankfully the adults in the room were polite and I never heard anything else about it. It really stuck in my head though. And yes I’m extremely grateful that that foolishness didn’t come out of MY mouth. It could have.
What did I learn from the mountaintop experience? Enthusiasm and the emotional high from phenomenal circumstances are great things, but it’s important to not let those emotions cause you to foolishly hurt others (and yourself-my friend’s credibility was pretty low after that).
Thus endeth my lesson.
😀
Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want to avoid foolishness.
Image courtesy of proamateur85 via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.
Ouch! But then again… it coulda been me, too. I mean, we’re all subject to moments of insanity now and then!
Good lesson, though, and one that’s worth carryin’ around with us through life.
Hey, thanks for the second mention, Amy! I’m glad you joined us this month. Tip o’ the hat to ya!
I just read Middlezone Musing’s post about mountain experiences. I found the post really enlightening. 😀 I hope I can have the same experiences you guys did. Too bad there’s not much mountains here in our place. 🙁
Woah. What was that kid’s problem?
I think his problem was the inability to express himself diplomatically. But if I were in the audience, I’d want to know why he considered me spiritually dead. Rather than being foolish, I think he tried to open a line of communication that could have been rewarding.
You rock Amy.
You are simply great
Robert, glad you liked it. I’m looking forward to next month’s WILF already.
Online Printing he did write a great post, didn’t he?
Terro, that’s a good point. However. (It’s difficult to make this short enough for a comment, but here goes.) The older I get the more I am noticing how easily (and rashly) the young pass judgment on older people. While I agree that there is much to be done to energize the church as a body, it’s also true that younger people can look at mature more settled people and think they’re not doing anything. Sometimes when we’re young we think that everyone has to be doing the same things as we are in order to be “doing it right”. I’ve seen MANY people scoff at tradition and older ways and structure, only to see them walk away from the Lord completely because they lack foundation. So who’s really spiritually dead at that point?
The line of communication is important and you’re right. A wise older person would use that as an opening to teach. I don’t know if my friend’s mother did that or not. I haven’t seen him in several years; it would be interesting to follow up and learn whether he still believes that.
KY’s Commonwealth Eye Surgery, awwww shucks. Thanks.