Three questions

It seems like all the UW servers decided to spontanously all crash (or maybe some gateway somewhere is being stupid) but I thought I drop a few lines before I run off to class again.

I've shared this with a few people already, but I guess I'll put it up anyway. Maybe it'll be encouragement to move away from complacentcy...

Three question. Three simple and straightforward questions. Haaa...

1. If you had to stand alone, would you do it?
This probably wouldn't happen. Although we "know" alot of people, surely there is a handful among our acquantences that we can go to. That will gladly watch our backs. That will stand with us and share our dreams and visions.

Mark 6/Luke 10 shows Jesus sending His team out in groups of two...
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves...

- Luke 10.1-3

Ecc 4 laments about how sucky the lack of comrade is...
If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

- Ecclesiastes 4.10

People like Moses and David all had people by their side. Even Paul had people with him during his missionary trips. However...contrasting these teams...Before Elisha, Elijah was on his own for a while. People like Ezekiel or Jeremiah had to stand alone. At the end, Paul was left only with a handful of loyal friends like Timothy.

The sole fact that God was with them made it possible for them to push through. It wasn't easy...Jeremiah often complained. Elijah got depressive relapses...perhaps no example is more powerful than Jesus Himself. On the night He was betrayed, I bet He couldn't have felt more alone. For how can anyone else relate and understand what He must do? None of his followers did. Down to the line, it was between Him and the Father. The words that He said to His Father was...
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.

- Luke 22:42

2. If you had to sow seeds without ever seeing the results, would you do it?
Obviously we'll see the results one day. But can one really do that? Just know what you gotta do and keep on tanking along, not knowing the impact of our words...of the meals we cook for each other...of the support and whatnot we pour into our brothers and sisters? Not knowing the marks we achieve in school or knowing what other people think of us? Not knowing if we were able to brighten someone's day or made someone's burden just a little more bareable? Just doing it cuz...God told us to?

The Lord told [Ananias], "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."

"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."

But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

- Acts 9.11-15

What a dramatic moment. Ananias was called to heal someone who has been throwing his friends and family, brothers and sisters into jail. Yet from that point on, Saul became Paul.

When we deal with people, we never know what would come out of it. People could nod and smile without actually understanding. Our words and actions might not ever reach the people we wish to reach. It's not like programming, when I can just hit "compile" and I see the outcome immedately.


3. If you had to run without ever seeing the finish line, would you do it?
I like to walk with some destination in mind. Unless I'm just wandering around, it's usually a good way to start on things. A nice vision. A nice goal. Details all getting point A to B. But what we don't know where point B is? Just given a compass and told "Walk North. Just keep walking north..." I dunno.

I was flipping through Paul's letters when I found this...
[Godless men's] teaching will spread like gangrene...

- 2 Timothy 2.17a

For someone who has already done so much, Paul realizes how much more that needs to be done. And the best he could do is pass on the torch, because the finish line he wanted to see...perhaps it was see see his church all strong and united in Him...or to spread the News even further...whatnot...the best he can do is to tell Timothy that he has done his best, and that it was now their turn.

Fight the good fight of the faith...

- 1 Timothy 6:12

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

- 2 Timothy 4:7

I dunno how far we would be called. I dunno where God would call any of us. But no battle would be easy. Even if we are never actually faced with these questions, when God gives us sturdy comrades. When we know exactly what we want to see. And that goal is actually attainable. For those of you who have lost track of where you are and where you are going...

Be still, and know that I am God...

- Psalms 46.10a

Ask yourself...where is God in the things we do? Why do we do it? Is it for Him? Or have we once again got caught up in all the logistics? Doing things for the sake of doing it? Somewhere out there, there's someone praying for you. When it's easy to sit down and be complacent. When it's easy to say that nobody cares. When it's easy to get sweeped away by the flows of life. It's not easy. It really isn't. But it would be good. Because He said so.

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

- 2 Timothy 4.22