The Mountains Are Calling

In this uplifting debut, Stephens, teaching pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Tex., looks at 10 Bible stories that take place on mountains, sharing a lesson from each. Many significant events recorded in the Bible involved mountain moments, he explains, such as Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son on Mt. Moriah, Moses’s meeting with God on Mt. Sinai, and Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on Mt. Olivet. Stephens writes that all Christians need to climb mountains, one step at a time, in their spiritual pilgrimages, but they can do so figuratively instead of literally, by experiencing God through the mountain narratives left behind: “If Jesus made the choice to be apart from the crowds and disciples to spend time with his Father, shouldn’t I do the same? Don’t I need this uninterrupted time with God?” Stephens explores how Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount teaches Christians to pray and how his suffering on Mt. Calvary teaches what it means to love—and he encourages readers to reflect on those lessons and apply them to their own lives in what he calls “climbing exercises,” included at the end of his book. Christian readers feeling weary or stagnant in their faith will find that Stephen’s book will help clarify the paradox of life with God, a restful adventure. (Aug.)