What Mountain Is Standing Before You?

A lesson I taught children for ten years—and one I still need today.

Look closely at this photograph.

It was taken in December 2017 in a classroom at MCA, the school connected with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The teacher was Mrs. Lorraine Rogers, and those smiling faces represent only a small part of a story that stretched across ten years.

Year after year, I had the privilege of returning to that school. Sometimes I spoke to the entire student body, grades one through twelve. More often, I would spend time with individual classes—sometimes thirty, forty, even fifty students at a time.

And almost every time, I came back to the same Scripture.

Matthew 21:21.

That verse was easy for me to remember. My football number was 21. My baseball number was 21.

So, Matthew 21:21 became my keynote Scripture.

Jesus told His disciples:

“…if you have faith and do not doubt…”
— Matthew 21:21, NKJV

He then spoke about commanding a mountain to be removed. And in the following verse He said:

“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
— Matthew 21:22, NKJV

Those are extraordinary words.

I never taught those children that faith meant closing your eyes, wishing hard enough, and waiting for something magical to happen.

I taught them something I had learned the hard way:

Faith believes God—and then acts upon what it believes.

The Practical and the Miraculous

Following my airplane crash, the medical outlook for my future was not encouraging.

My body had been terribly damaged. I had been told that I would never walk normally again. The use of my left arm and shoulder was severely affected. My eyesight had been greatly damaged. My memory had been seriously impaired.

Yet somewhere along that journey, God’s Word became more real to me than the prognosis… or the circumstances surrounding me.

That did not mean I stopped working at recovering physically.

Quite the opposite.

Everything I did to help my body, I did in faith… believing that God was trustworthy and His healing promises were more powerful than my injuries.

I partnered with Him.

I prayed and believed God, but I also exercised.

I believed for healing, but I also disciplined my body.

I trusted God’s promises, but I got up and did what I could do each day.

Little by little, I walked.

Eventually, I ran.

There were days when progress seemed painfully slow.

I came to think of it as the practical and the miraculous working together—the natural and the supernatural in harmony.

I participated in athletics again. My eyesight was restored to 20/20. And despite what once appeared to be an impossible future, I returned to professional aviation and remained a pilot for decades.

I shared with the students about some of these things, but never wanted the lesson to be about me.

The lesson was about God

What Is Your Mountain today?

Every child in those classrooms would eventually face mountains of his or her own.

Maybe not an airplane crash.

Maybe not broken bones.

But disappointments.

Fear.

Failure.

Family difficulties.

Financial problems.

Sickness.

A dream that seems impossible.

A door that refuses to open.

A situation that seems much bigger than they are.

And that is where the words of Jesus become intensely personal:

“…if you have faith and do not doubt…”

Faith does not deny that the mountain exists.

Faith decides that the mountain does not have the final word.

God does.

That was what I wanted those children to remember long after they had forgotten the visiting pilot wearing the captain’s hat.

Put God first.

Make His Word your final authority.

Pray.

Believe.

Work hard.

Develop discipline.

Do what you know to do.

And keep going.

But There Is Something Even More Important

As important as faith is, there was always something greater I wanted those young people to understand.

Before pursuing accomplishments, careers, athletics, success—or even miracles—know Jesus Christ personally.

The greatest miracle is not becoming a pilot.

It isn’t walking again.

It isn’t achieving a dream everyone said was impossible.

The greatest miracle is becoming a child of God through Jesus Christ and knowing that when this earthly life is finished, heaven is your home.

Everything else is temporary.

Jesus is eternal.

The Rest of the Story

Something remarkable happened during those ten years.

As I walked into the school, children would often come running to greet me. Some would gather around before class. Others would hold onto me when it was time for me to leave.

Those children grew up.

And Mrs. Lorraine Rogers has remained connected with hundreds of them.

She has watched little boys and girls become young men and women. She has attended their weddings. She has celebrated when their babies were born. Today, many of those children are mothers and fathers raising children of their own.

And recently, I received another photograph.

Another one of those students became a professional pilot.

To my knowledge, nine students from those years eventually became professional pilots.

That still makes me smile.

I wasn’t trying to recruit pilots. That was never the purpose.

Maybe watching an old captain talk about airplanes stirred something in a few young hearts. I don’t know.

But perhaps there is another lesson hidden there.

We seldom know how far our influence will travel

A teacher standing before a classroom.

A parent speaking to a child.

A grandparent praying with a grandchild.

A pastor preaching a sermon.

A friend offering encouragement.

A few faithful words spoken today may still be bearing fruit decades from now.

So What Mountain Is Before You Today?

Maybe today you are facing something that looks immovable.

Don’t pretend it isn’t there.

Don’t deny reality.

But don’t make the mountain bigger than God, either.

Go back to the words of Jesus.

Pray.

Believe.

Stand upon God’s Word.

Speak to the mountain and tell it that it must remove itself from you’re your path. Then roll up your sleeves and faithfully do whatever is yours to do.

Some mountains may move suddenly.

Others are conquered one difficult step at a time.

But either way, keep your eyes on Jesus rather than the mountain.

I taught that lesson to children for ten years.

And after all these years, I still need to remember it myself.

Have faith in God.

And when the mountain looks especially large, remember the words of Jesus:

“…if you have faith and do not doubt…”
— Matthew 21:21, NKJV

The mountain may be big.

But God is bigger.

Friends, use what God has given you. Tell people about what Jesus has done for you.

Jesus is coming again. And He’s coming again soon!

Photo: Visiting Mrs. Lorraine Rogers’ classroom at MCA, December 2017.

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