Sometimes, the best prayers are in the form of songs:
Lord of all creation
Lord of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are your Tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
(from the song, God of Wonders, written by Steve J. Hindalong & Marc Byrd in 1999 and recorded by the Christian band Third Day).
On Sunday, July 7, 2024, Neil and I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were in Colorado attending the annual Kiwanis International Convention. Sunday was our “bonus day,” where we had nothing Kiwanis-related to participate in. So, we set out early that morning to travel south from Denver to Colorado Springs. Our destination: Pikes Peak.
How many of you have experienced Pikes Peak? It’s the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at 14,115 feet above sea level. (I know the sign says 14,110 but there's five more feet counted at their other sign). According to whatismyelevation.com, my house in Carrollton is at an elevation of 1,085 feet above sea level. My sister, Lesia, lives on Oak Mountain; her elevation is 1,327 feet. So, Pikes Peak is much closer to the sun than any of our local hilltops!
On our way there, we realized we had not brought any pre-filled communion cups to take the Lord’s Supper. We had some at home, but that didn’t benefit us 1,100 miles away. So, we stopped at a convenience store and gathered supplies: crackers and Grape Crush!
The approach to Pikes Peak was visibly stunning. With every bend in the road, the beauty of God’s creation unveiled itself in the marvelous expanse of the Rocky Mountains. We climbed steadily on the twelve-mile trek and marveled that the Pikes Peak highway provided numerous ooh and ah moments. As we ascended, we drove through a series of switchbacks where we would take sharp, 180-degree hairpin turns. If it weren’t simply some of the most breathtaking scenery I’d ever witnessed, I probably would have been scared out of my wits!
We took one last turn and arrived at the summit, where there was a brand-new visitor’s center. Once we found a parking place in a very crowded lot, I pulled out my cellphone to access the scripture God had been whispering to me since we started this journey. It’s from the book of Mark, and I started in the eighth chapter, verse 34, through chapter 9, verse 9:
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
On Pikes Peak on the first Sunday in July, overlooking the purple mountain majesties that inspired Katherine Bates to write a little tune called “America the Beautiful,” Neil and I had a unique mountaintop experience as we observed the Lord’s Supper. And I cried because of the overwhelming realization of what Jesus did for us on another hilltop called Calvary.
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth…indeed!
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