“I’ve been praying about the wrong mountain. All this time, I have been praying about the wrong mountain! Instead of focusing on Mount Fuji, the mountain that needs to be removed is El Capitan.”
Last year, during furlough, I reflected on the words spoken during the reign of Rama 4, “I am not worried about letting missionaries come into the country. What can they do against this great mountain of Buddhism?”
Seeking an iconic mountain to represent this challenge to my audience, I chose Mount Fuji and preached that Christ promises to remove mountains through prayer and fasting. Then we went back to Thailand and quickly got swamped with the daily grind. Although we did incorporate more prayer, “Mount Fuji” has not budged.
My Mom had a health crisis in early 2026. Two months helping her in America gave me time to finish the final edit and typesetting of The Great Controversy in the language of one of Thailand’s neighbors. Praise the Lord for this major milestone.
While I was in the States, Duang stayed in Thailand to assist with church planting and to record an audiobook. During one of our daily phone calls, she mentioned some challenges that further reinforced the task’s seeming impossibility. How will southern Thailand be reached with the gospel? How will we have churches of active disciples among former Buddhists? “Mount Fuji” loomed large.
In response to this challenge, we started an online prayer call, which for me meant being online at 3:30 a.m., Sunday through Friday. The prayer call has led to much personal prayer outside of that time. During one of these ‘sweet hours of prayer,’ I discovered that I have been focusing on the wrong mountain. It is not the challenge of Buddhism, represented by Mount Fuji, that is the greatest obstacle. It is El Capitan, Yosemite Valley’s towering grand monolith, estimated at 7 on the Mohs scale—and a fitting representation of my cold, stony heart—that needs to be removed and cast into the sea.
The heart is the greatest challenge to missions. As Christ removes El Capitan, with its proud granite face, from my heart and the hearts of His people, the other mountains will fall, from Fuji to Kilimanjaro. When Christ replaces our stony hearts with hearts of flesh, the remaining challenges to mission will quickly yield. Please join me in praying for this heart transformation.
