Mountain Top Thinking of Joy

I have a mountain behind my house. On top of it is aluminum cross. It can be seen miles away. There is a trail that leads directly to it. Being in a new developing area in the North Valley, I think I must have been one of the first hikers in our neighborhood to hike to it. No one really knows who put it there, but it’s there. Towering above the North Valley. I love it. I often go there to gain perspective. On a clear day, I can see Cardinals Stadium. I can see Barry Goldwater High school where our church used to meet, I can see the Harkins Theatres were we currently meet and I can see the Land in which one day our church will gather each Sunday for worship. Mountains gain us perspective. From a high point in the Phoenix Valley you can see as far as 100 miles.

To “Count it all Joy” I think we must take this to mean we need perspective. We need to not simply see the present pain and trial, but we must see our circumstances from a supernatural perspective, and eternal perspective. We must by God’s grace gain a view of our hardships from the perspective of our heavenly father, we must train our minds to ascend into the high places of God, finding his goodness, his truth to guide our thinking, we must allow the spirit of God to lift us, as kite into the sky, and yet be gently tethered by God’s word to keep us grounded. The kind of Joy James calls for is crazy. To the world, but to Jesus is perfectly normal. If we come into this high place of Mountain thinking of Joy, then we are able to see just a little more clearly as to how all things the good, the bad and the ugly can weave into this beautiful tapestry of what we know of the Christian Life and thus resulting into a deep sense of joy!

1) Where do you go to find perspective?
2) What do you do when you need to rethink something?
3) What 1 thing do you need to stop doing, what one thing do you need to start?