FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
The Mountain
Every life has mountains.
Not the kind you see on a map, but the kind that suddenly appear in front of you and make you wonder, how in the world am I ever going to get over that?
Often the mountain is something we didn’t see coming. Sometimes we see it rising in the distance for years. It may be a broken relationship, a financial crisis, an addiction, a child who is struggling, a career that has fallen apart, a diagnosis we never expected, or simply a season when life feels heavier than we can carry.
And here’s the strange thing about mountains: when you’re standing at the bottom, you can’t see what’s on the other side.
That’s where faith becomes more than a word.
As Christians, we aren’t promised a mountain-free life. In fact, Scripture seems to assume the opposite. Jesus told His followers that they would have trouble in this world. The question isn’t whether we’ll encounter mountains. The question is how we will face them.
Will we face them alone? Will we convince ourselves that somehow, we are strong enough, smart enough, or determined enough to conquer everything life throws at us?
Or will we recognize that some mountains are simply too big for us? That’s where Jesus changes everything. Faith doesn’t mean pretending the mountain isn’t there. It means looking at the mountain and knowing that it isn’t bigger than God.
Sometimes God moves the mountain.
Sometimes He gives us the strength to climb it.
Sometimes He takes us on a path around it that we never would have chosen ourselves, and Sometimes He simply walks with us through the valley beneath it.
But He is there.
And that’s where the Church matters, too. Christianity was never intended to be a solo expedition. We need people who will pray with us when we don’t know what to pray. People who will encourage us when we’re exhausted. People who will tell us the truth when we’re losing perspective. People who will simply stand beside us when there are no easy answers.
That’s part of what communities like Forge are about.
We don’t become stronger men by pretending we don’t struggle. We become stronger by learning where our strength really comes from, and by helping one another keep climbing.
So, what mountain are you facing today?
Maybe nobody else can see it. Maybe you’ve become very good at smiling while standing at its base. But God sees it. And here’s the good news: you don’t have to know how you’re going to get over the mountain before you take the first step. You just have to take the first step.
Trust God. Stay close to Jesus. Don’t isolate yourself from His people. Keep moving. And when you look back someday, you may discover something you couldn’t see from the bottom: The mountain wasn’t just something you had to get over…
It was something God used to show you how faithful He is.
Joe Bouch
