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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Children's Stories and Transformations</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Children's
stories are full of characters who move back and forth between
different realms of reality. Take Cinderella, for example. You know the
story of four mice pulling a pumpkin, whisking Cinderella away from
poverty into an exalted moment of acceptance and glory. In one
transforming moment, the servant is transformed into the queen of the
ball. Suddenly, everyone can see Cinderella's beauty and worth. Or take
the story of The Lion King, where Simba, a young lion cub, makes a
series of selfish choices that lead to his father's death. He has to
flee. After a long exile, he is challenged to return. While wrestling
with the decision, he sees in a pond his own image, mysteriously
transfigured into the image of his deceased father. In that moment, he
sees the purpose of his life and discovers the courage to return. Or
take Beauty and the Beast, where the beast is transformed by love back
into a prince.<br>
<br>
In these stories, reality is seen in a whole new
way. As for the disciples, during these very mysterious moments on the
mountain, the one they had followed up the mountain was transfigured
before them.<br>
<br>
B. Wiley Stephens, God Comes to Us<br>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The Presence of a Hero</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">In
the summer of 1941, Sergeant James Allen Ward was awarded the Victoria
Cross for climbing out onto the wing of his Wellington bomber at 13,000
feet above ground to extinguish a fire in the starboard engine. Secured
only by a rope around his waist, he managed to smother the fire and
return along the wing to the aircraft's cabin. Winston Churchill, an
admirer as well as a performer of swashbuckling exploits, summoned the
shy New Zealander to 10 Downing Street. Ward, struck dumb with awe in
Churchill's presence, was unable to answer the prime minister's
questions. Churchill surveyed the unhappy hero with some compassion.<br>
<br>
"You must feel very humble and awkward in my presence," he said,<br>
<br>
"Yes, Sir," managed Ward.<br>
<br>
"Then you can imagine how humble and awkward I feel in yours," returned Churchill.<br>
<br>
Churchill
knew he was in the presence of a real hero. So did the disciples. In
fact, they knew they were in the presence of someone whose significance
went beyond celebrity, even beyond heroic. He was their Lord, their
Master, their King. If we are wise, he will be our Lord, our Master, our
King. If we are wise, Christ will be our Hero, too.<br>
<br>
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, </span><a style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-size: 12pt;" shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1635350983__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1104681004836&s=45429&e=001ZSOPA-acEklWn1vJSZZKXyZo62I67GG6901k9FQeybtCG-lMNy9LZJEPyrvJPE5QlpG49FlTupb5PJW193Df2zJs8_B-Jk5FSqpvlWaN43xt8wqrS2-yPQ==">www.Sermons.com</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> <br>
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</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The Preview</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
story of the transfiguration of Christ is the biblical equivalent of
Friday night at your local Theater. It is a preview of what it would be
for Christ in the resurrection. Jesus' face shines like the sun, Matthew
tells us, and his clothes become dazzling white. Jesus is glorified
right before the very eyes of Peter, James, and John as he communes with
Moses and Elijah.<br>
<br>
Previews, unfortunately, don't last long by
their very nature. If they did, they wouldn't be called "previews." They
would be full-length movies. But then again, this is one of the Bible's
true mountaintop experiences, and as we all know, mountaintop
experiences don't last very long. Every once in awhile a moment comes
along that we wish we could freeze for all eternity. It's the kind of
experience that reaches down into the marrow of our bones and touches us
with a special feeling. We wish it would last forever, but it doesn't.<br>
<br>
Randy Hyde, The Preview<br>
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Wonder: It Is So Exciting</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">In
the comic strip Peanuts, Snoopy's brother Spike, the one who lives in
the desert, is sitting with his back against a cactus, writing a letter
that says, "At night the sun goes down, and the stars come out; and then
in the morning the sun comes up again. It's so exciting to live in the
desert." We've gotten used to sunrises and sunsets, mornings and
evenings, the moon and the stars. We've gotten used to music and art,
friends and family, joy and sorrow. We too easily grow accustomed to the
wonders that surround us. Laziness keeps us from seeing the flashes of
brightness.<br>
<br>
Brett Younger, Glimpses of Glory<br>
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</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Places I Wish I Could Have Stayed</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">I
have visited some places I really wish I could have stayed. If it were
my choice I would still be there right now. As much as I like it here, I
would rather be there.<br>
<br>
There is a tent, set on a hill at the top
of a 1,500-foot cliff overlooking the Jordan Valley in southern Israel.
When the sun comes up in the morning it breaks over the mountains a few
miles to the east and literally shatters the darkness around you. The
winds sail up the face of the cliff from the valley below and almost
make you believe you could lean out into them and fly away. It is quiet.
No phone. No traffic. It is the area that Moses wandered for 40 years. I
could do that. I could stay there.<br>
<br>
There was a day that I sat in
the little green room at Decatur Memorial Hospital. I had just become a
father. I sat in a chair holding this little blanket in my arms. Inside
the blanket were two blue eyes. The eyes looked straight into mine and
said things that I could not hear, but could feel more clearly than I
had felt anything in my life. My daughter. MY daughter. I would like to
go back there. I would like to spend some time there again, seeing those
eyes. Oh, the eyes are still here, but now they are 12 years old and
they look at many different things. Then, they looked at me. Only me. I
am proud of my 12-year-old, but I could go back to that room again. I
could stay there.<br>
<br>
I think Peter would understand that. I think
that whatever else happened in Peter's life - and we have an awful lot
of it recorded - he would have given it all up to go back. And I think I
know where he would have gone.<br>
<br>
John B. Jamison, Time's Up!, CSS Publishing Company<br>
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</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">We Can't Live on the Mountaintop</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">A
young woman made an announcement one morning to her co-workers, "My
honeymoon is over and I am so relieved. Now we can get on with our
marriage." That's the way it is with our mountaintop experiences. We
can't live there forever. The light is too bright, the pace too frantic,
and the demands too great. It is a relief to return to normal lives
where we can be ourselves and let others be themselves, but that doesn't
mean the honeymoon is forgotten. Just because we don't live on the
mountain all the time doesn't mean we forget what happened on the
mountain.<br>
<br>
William B. Kincaid, III, And Then Came The Angel, CSS Publishing Company<br>
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<span>Describe That Person Theologically</span></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">In
order to become a minister in most denominations, a ministerial
candidate must be examined and tested theologically. The church has a
right and an obligation to know if a person is theologically sound
before authorizing ordination, so theological questions are asked. I
heard recently about a veteran minister who always asks the same
theological question of every potential minister; indeed, he has been
asking this question of every candidate for over 30 years.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">He
begins by asking the candidate to look out the window. The puzzled
examinee peers out the window, and the old minister adds, "Tell me when
you see a person out there."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">"I see one," the candidate will haltingly announce.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">"Do you know that person personally?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">"No, sir."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">"Good. Now, my question is this: Will you please describe that person theologically?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">In three decades of experience in asking that question...</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations
and sermons for the Transfiguration can be accessed at </span><a style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-size: 12pt;" shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1635350983__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1104681004836&s=45429&e=001ZSOPA-acEklWn1vJSZZKXyZo62I67GG6901k9FQeybtCG-lMNy9LZJEPyrvJPE5QlpG49FlTupb5PJW193Df2zJs8_B-Jk5FSqpvlWaN43xt8wqrS2-yPQ==">www.Sermons.com</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">.<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
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