There was a friendly giant in the land who liked to show off his strength and move large objects.
The people of the town loved to challenge him to uproot trees or push large boulders from one place to another. The townspeople took bets over whether he would be able to do it and each time he showed his strength to have no match for him.
The objects they challenged him to move got bigger and bigger but still they couldn’t find anything that he couldn’t move.
A young boy from the town came up to the giant. He stood next to him and tugged on pants.
“Hey, Mr. Giant,” he said. “Can you move a mountain?”
The townspeople laughed at the boy. Of course the giant couldn’t move a mountain.
But the giant took never turned down a challenge. “I will!” he said.
With that he took great big steps over to a nearby mountain next to the sea.
He looked with deep focus on the mountain and said to the people who followed him there, “I will move this mountain right into the sea!”
He burrowed his shoulder into he side of the mountain and started to push. He pushed and he pushed but the mountain didn’t move. He dug under ground to lift the mountain out of the ground, but still it wouldn’t budge. He got a running start and launched himself into the mountain to try to break it, but he barely made a crack.
Little by little the townspeople left the giant and went back to their work and homes. None of them believed he could accomplish this task.
The giant went on for days not eating or sleeping until he collapsed in exhaustion.
He could barely move his arms or legs. He was ready to give up.
Then a bird landed on his nose.
The bird looked at the giant inquisitively. “What are you doing, Mr. Giant?” he said.
“Moving this mountain is impossible even for someone with strength such as mine.
“Impossible, eh?” said the bird. “Well if it is impossible, why not ask the one who makes all impossible things possible?”
“What is the point? I’ve lost all my strength. If I can’t move this mountain, no one can,” said the giant.
“Just ask,” said the bird and he flew away.
“OK,” the giant said to himself still unable to move. He figured that he had no other option. If he couldn’t move the mountain, then it was God or no one at all that could do it. “God, take up this mountain and throw it into the sea!”
At that moment something incredible happened. The earth began to shake. A large crack formed in the ground between him and the mountain. Little by little the mountain began to break and tip towards the sea.
The giant crawled away from the crack and the falling mountain. He watched as the mountain indeed fell into the sea.
No one was there to see it but the giant.
He did not go back to the town to brag. He did not claim the feat for himself.
He knew who to thank for this miracle. He had gone through life trusting his own strength for too long. Now he would place his trust in God, the one who can move mountains.
“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you ay will come to pass, it will be done for you.” (Mark 11:23)
