Like Jesus’ first disciples, we tend to waste a lot of time and energy looking up to heaven when we need to be about God’s business in the world around us. We remember how good it was when we had that mountaintop experience—whatever it may have been (certainly unique for each of us)—and we want to feel that closeness to God again. We hope we will find it in church on Sunday morning, but it is the same old thing—the same routine liturgy, the same people who have their same problems and excuses. The spark we look for just isn’t there. The sermon is okay; the music is fine; we take communion, but nothing happens. We’re still the same mess we were when we got out of bed. We hope our Christian friends will be able to help us, that they will say or do whatever is necessary to get us back on track. Unfortunately, they are also struggling with the circumstances of their lives. They have no easy answers either. So we remain frustrated, disappointed because nothing or no one meets our expectations. As long as we stew in our self-pity because we’re not experiencing the Divine in the way we’d like to, we’re not very effective witnesses. To answer Christ Jesus’ call to proclaim the good news of God’s redeeming love, we have to surrender all our expectations and love, actively love, one another, warts and all. We have to keep on keeping on even when the door is shut in our face, and we feel disheartened and rejected. When we do continue to reach and give of ourselves, however, we discover that we didn’t lose Christ on the mountaintop after all. We find him right here looking back at us from the eyes of those whose lives we touch.