At this time of year I think back to my high school Christmases in Ft. Worth. They were happy times with my family, church friends, school friends and neighbors.

Our church youth group would “stealthily” stake down a 25′ Christmas tree in people’s yards along with wrapping their houses with TP.

My family would cruise the city looking at the beautiful (and sometimes tacky) Christmas lights in various neighborhoods.

My sister, Cindy, and I would beg Mom and Dad to let us open just one present on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day our family would make the three hour trip to Mamaw and Papaw’s house in the country community of Cottonwood.

Those were great “comfortable” days of years gone by. But they are in the past.

Sometimes I get comfortable with the way things are and just want to remain there. I like the good times.

Though God brought me to and through the good times of the past, He has a path that I must continue on into the present and the future.

It reminds me of Jesus with His “inner circle” of Peter, James and John in an experience we call the “Transfiguration”. Jesus took these three men on a mountain to pray. While there, God moved in an incredible way.

Peter, James and John aroused from their sleep to find Jesus surrounded by an indescribable glow and  miraculously conversing with Moses and Elijah. It was an amazing experience for these three disciples of Jesus. In an attempt to keep the moment, Peter offered to build three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He was comfortable with this mountaintop setting. It would be good to stay with it.

But that was not God’s plan.

In an instant, Moses and Elijah were gone and the three disciples were left alone with Jesus. There was still work to do and lives to be touched. So down the mountain they went to continue their journey with Jesus.

No matter how comfortable and pleasant my circumstances, I must keep moving. And trusting. And obeying.

It’s not only the remarkable destination of Heaven that awaits me but the incredible process of the journey that prepares me for the arrival.