Tunneling through

I had lunch today with Steve Liscano. Steve's a great guy. 83 years old. We had fun.

Steve's wife passed away around six weeks ago. I had the privilege of leading and speaking at Teresa's funeral. She was a great lady.

As we were driving back from Portillo's, we were talking about Teresa and the strong faith that she had.

He said that Teresa loved the saying, "many times God doesn't remove our mountain but he does give us the strength to tunnel through."

I got to thinking about that - and you know - that's true.

Oh, I know that we would like our mountain to be removed. That would be the easiest way to deal with our challenges.

But more often than not, God gets excited about partnering with us, he gets a kick out of working with us as we overcome the obstacles that we face in life.

I was reading today that about Ramchandra Das, 53, who lives in Bihar, India.

In order to access nearby fields for food and work, Das and his fellow villagers had to take a 4.3-mile trek around a mountain.

Fed up with the obstacle, Das did something about it. With just a hammer and chisel, he cut a 33-foot-long, 13-foot-wide tunnel through a narrow area of the mountain. It took Das fourteen years to complete the task.

And get this: Das isn't the first person to do such a thing. He was inspired by another villager who cut a 393 feet-long, 33 feet-wide, 26 feet-high passage through another mountain so that villagers could reach a local hospital.

That man was motivated to do so when his wife died because he was unable to get her to the hospital.

Tunneling through is not as easy as having our mountain removed. But it can be God's way.

However, and here's the good part - God always helps us. God gives us direction, strength and guidance. Our part - to work, persevere and never, ever, give up.

Just a thought for a Tuesday