Afkary

My pickup driver was late and the hotel room wasn't ready. So to the gym and shower instead. The receptionist was very helpful thogh, offered me water and had a juicy orange. Din bring a sweater and brght only one hanky. Dumb me ya? Temp now bout 10C and going to near zero tonite. Oh well may have to buy a sweater or just stay in doors. haha. Oh the Peruvians look native whilst the Chileans look spanish. Here's sunday's reflection:

Conquering our mountains
At the recent Global Day of Prayer tea briefing, Pastor Edmund Chan shared this true story of a church in the Appalachians Mountains. A member donated a piece of land to build a new church. Ten days before the official opening the authority came and said that the church cannot be opened because the car park was too small for the size of the sanctuary and has to double in size to meet the regulatory requirement. The pastor said, "I am sorry I can't double the car park. Every square inch of this land has been used and the only land left is the hill behind which we don't have time nor money to level." The official replied that he could not relent, as those were the regulations. So, the pastor announced the bad news to the church and called for a prayer meeting. Hear the challenge the pastor gave for the prayer meeting. "Only those with mountain moving prayer come and join me in prayer tonight. We are going to pray for the hill behind to be removed!" Out of a congregation of over 300 people, 24 gathered to pray specifically for the Lord to move the mountain because there was no other way to build the car park. They prayed for 3 hours and at 10 pm the pastor declared by faith, "Next Sunday we will use the church". Monday morning there was a knock at the pastor's door. The construction supervisor from another county said, "We are building a mall and desperately need more soil. There is a hill behind your church. Would you consider selling us the soil?" " When do you need it?", asked the pastor. "As soon as possible." said the supervisor. They brought in tractors and excavators, leveled the hill, paved and painted a brand new car park and paid the church for the soil they took away.
Mountain moving prayer!

Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain "Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Such faith doesn't come naturally for most of us. Like the father of the possessed son in Mark 9 our plea before God is "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

We all have mountains in our lives. It could be relationship, family, career, health, finance etc. The issue of conquering our mountain is not so much the mountain but the one who can move the mountain. The reality of life is often our prayer doesn't move the mountain. In that case the "mountain" to move or change could well be ourselves! God may be trying to change our attitude towards the mountain.

This reminds me of the 3 questions asked by Prof. Ramesh from Dallas.
1. Can God move the mountain? Most certainly!
2. Must God move the mountain? No.
3 Will God move the mountain? Maybe and maybe not.

I ask the 4th question.
Can you move the "mountain" inside you?
Tough and difficult but possible..