I know this is a common occurrence. Every day people fly all over the world and arrive thousands of miles later and within a few hours are stepping off into a different city, a different state, and sometimes a different country. Yes, it is common, but it still baffles me and boggles this mind of mine.
I woke up this morning, got out of my own bed, drank some coffee, spent some time with my family, drove to the airport and six hours later, I have arrived here to visit my children for a few days. And with their children.
Having said all of that, I will tell you this.
With the ability to be in a town of 750 persons, and then travel to the airport of a city of 156,000 residents, board a plane with 170 other travelers, and arrive in my destination city of 460,000 people, I am surprised and somewhat embarrassed (with a good dosage of guilt) that we, Christians, aren’t more influential and effective to a lost and dying world. It seems that there should be more of us, doesn’t it?
Then I think of the apostle Paul, who is not only my hero, but is at times, a thorn in my side. As to my hero, I am struck and motivated by his passion to preach Christ. Jesus Christ crucified and alive again.
Someone once asked the Christian singer and composer Rich Mullins (my all time favorite), who his hero was. They were taken aback when he didn’t say Jesus. To which Mullins replied, “He’s not my hero. He is my Savior.” So no disrespect at all to my Savior Jesus, Paul is my hero.
As to Paul being a thorn in my side, same reason for him being my hero. His passion was to preach Christ, whenever, wherever, however. I, (he shamefully says) am not that bold. I want to be. But I’m not. I desire to. But I don’t.
And I have it easy. I can be anywhere in the world in a day. I can come in contact with myriads of people. I have numerous Bibles, books, songs, and devotionals at my disposal. I can even send out mass e-mails and post something on Facebook and Twitter. And yet…. Lame.
Which brings me to Paul. He traveled by foot, by animal, by ship, and went all over Asia taking days, weeks, and months to get there. And all the while preaching, teaching, sharing the hope of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So hated was he in one town for preaching Jesus, they stoned him with rocks and left him for dead. What did Paul do? Once he regained consciousness the next morning, he got up and headed back into the city to preach Jesus!
That is so not me. I would have collected my purple heart and been on
the next donkey home. But not Paul. Because he was so grateful to Jesus for saving him, and so dedicated to Jesus for calling him, referring to himself as Christ’s bond-servant, and he knew his purpose in life. To exalt Jesus.
I can’t help but think that if Paul lived on our time, he would be going everywhere he could; he would be on every social and entertaining media outlet, utilizing every type of resource that would be of value to him. Why? Not because he was a techno-new gadget geek, but he was unequivocally a “Jesus freak”. To him, it was all about Jesus.
His love, his passion, his purpose was Jesus and preaching Jesus and teaching Jesus. I think he would be admonishing us for our lack of aggression and would be encouraging us to stay true to that which has brought us to this point. That, being Jesus Christ and the magnificent grace of God.
No doubt, you can see why I bow my head in disappointment as I, time and time again get so caught up in my own life and fail to press on for the upward call.
And if that isn’t enough to have “loser” painted on my forehead, I recall those years when Paul was on house arrest. You know, being shackled 24/7 to a Roman guard? And what’s my hero doing?
He’s writing letters to churches he started, to people he brought to Christ and those he had discipled. He would receive visitors and good old Paul would be doing the same thing he had always done. He preached Jesus Christ, crucified and alive again.
There
is no doubt in my mind that Paul was also sharing his faith with those guards
who were chained to him. And when one
guard was relieved from his assignment and the next one was clamped on, I can
almost hear Paul, “Permit me to introduce you to Jesus.”
I’ll
bet many a guard, when the orders for the day came down, were going, “please,
not him. Not Paul. I’ll go fight in the frontlines, but not
Paul. Anything but that.”Me? I can’t even make small talk. Sitting here on a plane for the first two hour leg of my flight, it takes everything in me to acknowledge the guy sitting next to me with small talk, in order to have opportunity to share. But I am determined.
Me: So, you live in Denver?
Him: No, Corvallis(Silence)
Me: Are you visiting Denver?
Him: No, going
to Dallas.(Silence)
Me: Oh, I am going to Kansas City.
He nods his
head and looks down.(Awkward silence)
He then grabs a
book and begins reading. The title of
the book that he was reading is “The Quiet”.
I think that’s a hint.
So, I look out
the window of the plane and see the wonders of God’s creation, listen to a
little Rich Mullins and head to my destination hoping to have another go at
sharing my Savior Jesus. Just like my
hero Paul. Just like him. Kind of.
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