Get Away to Pray

Luke 9:28-29 - Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

Smartphones are wonderful gadgets. We can be reached almost anywhere at anytime. We can connect to the Internet and the endless amount of information and entertainment it provides wherever we go. Social media is always with us. Go into any restaurant and notice how many patrons are engrossed in their gadgets and ignoring their companions. Like so many other things in life, smartphones bring good, but they also bring risk. And the risk of distraction is a huge one.

We live in a very noisy world with so many things that demand our attention. It is easy to let the subtle, yet truly important, slide to the background. Prayer is certainly one of those.

Although he did not have a smartphone, Jesus lived in a noisy, distracting world. However, he knew the importance of distraction-free prayer. This supernatural God encounter we call the Transfiguration is not the only time he got away to pray, but could the Transfiguration have happened if he did not get away from the crowds and the distractions?

Luke records that Jesus took three of his disciples to a mountain for the expresses purpose of prayer and that his transformation took place while he prayed. This event had such an impact on Peter that he wrote about it in his second letter some thirty years later. (II Peter 1:17-18) In our noisy world with such wonderful gizmos and gadgets, we need to remember what is truly important and be sure we take time to get away so we, too, can have our much-needed life transforming encounters with God.