The Waffle and the Transfiguration

“This is awesome! This is amazing! I need to slow down because I just don’t want this to end!” These are not words I overheard while on some exotic vacation—no, I overheard this while eating breakfast at church a few weeks ago. Apparently the waffle with the creamy, buttery pecan sauce was beyond delicious. At the time, I laughed because my friend Linda does not normally express herself about anything with that much drama! In fact, I started teasing her that perhaps she should go home and journal about her feelings and let some of that emotion out.

So last Sunday my pastor preached a sermon about Jesus taking Peter, James and John up on the mountain where they all had a phenomenal religious experience, complete with a visit from Moses and Elijah. Pastor Chip compared Peter’s desire to stay, with our own desires to spiritually stay in those places where we felt heightened emotion and closeness to God. He even used the phrase, “it’s so good, and you never want it to end.”

All I could think about was Linda and the waffle. I wished that we could have started the sermon with Linda giving the “waffle testimony.” It would have started something like this: “So one time . . . I was eating this waffle . . . and it was so delicious . . .” She has assured me that I could never have persuaded her to do it, but every time I see her I still think about it and we laugh about the story that could have been told.

I continue to think about and be challenged by those mountaintop experiences and how they’re really not a bad thing—in fact they can be life-changing. There are those moments that come out of nowhere, catch you off-guard, bring out emotions that you didn’t even know existed, and then they’re gone with little chance of bringing them back. But are they really over?

I remember one of those moments that happened when I was in high school. Since I went to a Christian high school, you might expect that I was surrounded by people who spoke openly about deep and important things and whose priority it was to learn everything we could about God. That really wasn’t the case—we were pretty typical high school kids. But, we did have to go to chapel twice a week (where we didn’t always behave well).

On one particular day we had an “exchange chapel” from another Christian school and heard some students tell us their own stories of faith. I don’t even remember those students—their stories don’t stand out in my mind, but when the opportunity was given for us to share, I do remember the first person from my school that went to the microphone and it changed everything. Something happened in the gym that day that no one could explain. Other students came forward, stories were told, guitars appeared and spontaneous, praying, crying and singing erupted. Suddenly we were able to share from our hearts our struggles and our joys. It was emotional.

Our teachers and principal were smart that day. They cancelled class and let us stay on the mountain for a while. It was a day that most of us have not forgotten. When we came down that afternoon and went home, reality hit as it always does. Some parents questioned the sincerity of such an emotionally charged event. Other wonderful adults helped us set up an evening event where we sang and studied the Bible. The group was large at first and then slowly shrunk down to a faithful few.

It wasn’t long before that mountaintop became a distant memory. We could never recapture it even if we wanted to. But as I look back, it was the well-timed event that sent me off in the right direction. I joined my church, signed up for a mission trip, and continued to spend time with friends that I knew would encourage me to follow Jesus. It’s the defining moment of my faith—when I publically claimed what I had privately believed. And my guess is that I’m not the only one. Forty-some years later, I’m pretty sure that the “exchange chapel revival” is also the defining moment for many of my classmates.

We can’t stay on the mountain, but we can’t downplay the importance of those times. Jesus knew what his disciples were facing in the near future. He knew they needed that moment. He knew what my high school classmates and I would be facing in the future and that we would need our moment too. And as for my friend Linda . . . I think He just wanted her to enjoy that really good waffle.