Mountain Moving Faith!

I believe God can move mountains...and many times He does it by giving us a wheel barrel. Read this story of faith from East TN:

A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary. Unfortunately, the church with its undersized lot had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built.

In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had "mountain moving faith." They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.

At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen". "We'll open next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too." The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door. When he called "come in", a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered.

"Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We're building a huge shopping mall. We need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We'll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge if we can have it right away. We can't do anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly."

The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with "mountain moving faith" on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week!

I believe He can do it. So lets go out and move mountains. You know I love ya - Don

Mountain Tops

"As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." - Matthew 17:9

Mountains were very important to Matthew. When Jesus was tempted to worship the devil in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world, it happened on a mountain. It was good enough for Luke to have Jesus preaching on a nice level place, but when Jesus preaches essentially the same sermon in Matthew he does so on a mountain. That's why we call it the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus went to the mountain to pray. And in Matthew 17, we have this story of the transfiguration, which happened on a mountain.

What is it about something happening on a mountain that adds such special significance? For Matthew, whose roots were in the Jewish tradition and who was writing to Jewish Christians, mountains were holy dwellings of God, places where God's presence was known and God's laws were given. Mountains became symbols of the way things would be when God's rule finally would extend over the earth. "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths" (Isaiah 2:3).

Whatever we make of this story of the transfiguration, it is no accident that it happened on a mountain. On a mountain the glory of Jesus is revealed and the voice from heaven says, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" We aren't sure how God is going to transfigure us in the future, but we like this idea of mountains.

When we are out driving and approach a great stretch of mountains, it is breathtaking and terribly humbling. A drive through the mountains gives us a different perspective on things. Some people invest a lot of time and money in mountain-climbing. That's not for the exercise. They could get the exercise doing a hundred other things. Mountain-climbing is about mastering the mystery and standing where few have stood. We rarely hear of stories about the treacherous descent down a mountain, even though that is great exercise as well. The stories are always about climbing the mountain, risking it all to get to the top, and spending time on some high peak that causes people to see things, and maybe even themselves, differently.

We like the mountains. We even describe some of our greatest moments as mountain-top experiences, but we can't stay on the mountain forever. The emotional level is too intense. However, we can take with us what we experienced on the mountain. It how we share that experience that will define us as Christians.

You know I love ya - Don

Beautiful in its time!

He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. - Ecclesiastes 3:11

We are travelling home from a wedding in Virginia this weekend. Our travels are taking us through the Appalachian mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. It is beautiful! Fall is in full bloom and the trees and mountains are a alive with reds, browns, yellows and greens.

I was thinking of this verse, God has made everything beautiful in it time...in my opinion the best time is Fall. With the vastness of the cascades and the greatness of the blue sky above, I think of the eternity God gives to those who believe. With His eternity in mind, MY MIND, can not even fathom how wonderful it will be.......I (and You) can have complete confidence that God will complete the work He started in ME on His time and it will be TOTALLY beautiful!

As I see these mountains today, What can I do but worship....but to declare how much God is worth to me!

You know I love ya, Don