You too can… move mountains. (if you have faith)
No. I do not have faith, so I cannot move anything, leave alone mountains.
Or
think of those whose faith is so powerful and they keep moving
mountains (literally) from one place to another. There will be chaos.
All the hill stations, mountain ranges will have new addresses every
time some one with faith moves them (literally). Jesus invites us to
move our so many ‘mountains’. We only need to have faith in ourselves,
in others, in our systems and above all in God. Let us look at one such
‘mountain’.
Last June, I was returning from Shillong to
Guwahati. A priest, a brother and my wife were in the car besides the
driver. It was more than 100 kms., the last leg of our trip to the
North East, on the G.S.Highway with heavy traffic and many a cloud
capped mountains to cross. Next morning was our flight back to Mumbai.
After two hours of inching and crawling, the traffic came to a stand
still. Minutes ticked by. Even after one hour there was no movement.
The driver said that it was very common in those areas, and sometimes
he had to stay on the road throughout the night. It made me think. It
was a ‘mountain’ to move.
By this time, the priest went
to sleep. The Brother decided to go and get the traffic moving, using
his influence and fluency of local languages. Even half an hour after
he left, nothing happened. Then I decided to go and get the ‘mountain’
moving. As I walked along, it looked like an endless road with vehicles
of all sizes on either side. I met scores of tired faces of men, women
and children. I was joined by a local, Meghalaya Govt. officer, a
catholic young man. He was least concerned about the traffic. He was
unhappy about his home situation. Being in a matrilineal society, all
his property belonged to his wife, and nothing was in his name. It took
us more than half an hour to reach the accident site. A huge truck had
turned turtle due to a tyre burst. The luggage had spilled all over.
The immediate reaction was to send for a crane, remove the debris and
get the traffic moving. It would take many hours. As I reached the
spot, I found the Brother sitting on the footpath, tired of walking.
Soon I saw some police officers. I approached the young, smart officer
of a higher rank, and politely offered him my humble suggestions. He
was deeply impressed. Just to show the crowd that he needed to consult
his superiors, he caught hold of a two wheeler, rushed to his superiors
who were supervising a similar situation and returned in a few minutes.
He guided the traffic exactly as I had told him.
I told
him that there were women and children in the so many vehicles and they
could not wait till late in the night. The other bigger, luggage
carriers can wait. There was just a little space for smaller vehicles
to pass through. So allow them from either side at 10 minutes interval.
He did the same and within 45 minutes, I was joined by my car and after
two hours we arrived at Guwahati. Thus I moved a ‘mountain’ of traffic.
I could do it, because I had faith in myself; I had faith in the Police
and the State; I had faith in others. Above all I had faith in God. If
we have faith in God, we can ‘move mountains’.
S.Mariadas