My Mountain Top Experiences

Here are some significant mountain top experiences found in the Bible:
Mount Sinai: Moses received the Ten Commandments from God (Exodus 19-20).
Mount Moriah: Abraham was tested by God when asked to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19).
Mount Tabor: The Transfiguration of Jesus, where He revealed His divine glory (Matthew 17:1-13).
Mount Ararat: Noah’s Ark, where the Ark came to rest after the Flood (Genesis 8:4).
Mount of Olives: The Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus often went to pray (Matthew 26:36-46).

Allow me to tell you about
my two significant “mountain top” experiences.

On Top of the Alps (Hitler’s Hideout)

Has God ever given you a burden for the lost? Have you yearned for your friends and relatives to come to Christ? In my case, my wife, Debbie, led both my parents to the Lord shortly before they died. Those were wonderful experiences, but God gave me a burden for cities and countries to hear the Gospel. Here are two amazing answers to mountain top prayers.

After my conversion, I was sent back to my home country, Germany, but not as a civilian, as a soldier in the US Army. I attended a Christian servicemen’s center in our town where I wandered out, using this as a home base, to share Christ with the lost of my city, Schweinfurt, Germany.

One day, we went on a Christian retreat to Berchtesgaden, a beautiful valley located on the edge of the Alps. One morning, I hiked to the top of a mountain and found the Eagle’s Nest, a home on top known as Hitler’s hideout. From there, I gazed north out to the flat lands of Germany stretching as far as the North Sea. At that moment, God gave me a heavy burden for the lost of my town and I poured out my heart for their salvation. But I knew it was a huge task to reach them, so I just left it in God’s hands.

When we arrived back in town, I asked our leader what those folks were doing standing on almost every street corner. He found out that Operation Mobilization (OM), an interdenominational mission organization founded in 1957 by George Verwer with 5,000 members, had chosen our town for a city-wide evangelism campaign. Somehow, God knew this ahead of time and gave me the burden of prayer for this event while on top of that mountain.

Mount Diablo Range (Mount of the Devil)

A second mountain top event happened when I was standing on top of a hill overlooking the giant San Francisco Bay Area. It’s a long bowl surrounded by coastal range mountains. God again gave me a burden for the lost as I looked down, scanning San Francisco Bay from the north to the south. I prayed fervently for the lost to be reached.

I had since then, become a Gideon. We are the folks who place Bibles in hotel room drawers and give out New Testaments to school kids. Well, shortly after I prayed, I found out that the Gideons International had chosen a large city in the Bay Area, San Jose, as the next location for their annual International Convention.

Of course, I found myself helping to prepare for this. I became the head chairman for Prayer and Evangelism. I was in charge of selecting places for delegates to go to share Christ. Each one of them, a mature Christian, skilled at witnessing and handing out Bibles on the streets. God provided five luxury busses to send out teams all over the area daily!

That event reached some of the South Bay for Christ but I was soon appointed as area director for most of the North Bay. That means I was able to visit all the Gideon camps and challenge them to reach their communities for Christ. My areas included the Livermore Valley, Concord, Walnut Creek and all cities inbetween, the Napa Valley, San Rafael, the entire San Francisco Penninsula, and even San Jose.

When God gives you a burden for the lost, remember, “God is not willing that any should perish, but desires all to come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9. May the Lord lay upon your heart a burden of prayer and may you enjoy your mountain top experience of seeing your prayers answered.