Articles
People Along the Way
One of the most interesting aspects of travel is meeting people, learning their stories and thereby broadening one’s perspectives on life. Sometimes it is only a passing interaction that leaves more questions than answers, as in this first case in our recent trip to Colorado:
The car wreck. As we headed west through Ohio we noticed brake lights ahead and a cloud of dust blowing across the interstate. When we approached the area we saw a car wrecked in the median. It had rolled over; the driver and a passenger were still in their seats as the car had come to rest on its wheels. They appeared stunned by the ordeal, and people on the other side of the interstate were running to their aid. I could not help but think about the life-altering (and nearly life-ending) calamity they had just suffered and what the coming days would hold for them. I was also thankful that we were not involved, but we proceeded with some uneasiness as this happened at the outset of a 3,700 mile trip (unfortunately, this was not the last major accident we would see on our journey).
Observation: It is no small thing to pray for “traveling mercies” (as the Brits used to say) for those on the road. While travel today may be safer in many ways than in times past, wrecks, random violence (the recent overpass shootings in KY, for example) and even illness can strike unexpectedly. One of the elders in Kansas City where Andrew preaches told of getting a recent midnight phone call informing him that his brother had been in a rollover accident and was on his way to the ER. He survived with minor injuries. The apostle Paul was plagued by death threats, exposure, bandits, shipwreck, etc. in his travels, and he solicited prayers for his work. When people ask for prayers in their travel, take that request seriously. Traveling in any age is hazardous.
The grieving grandfather. A gentleman greeted me after one of my lessons in Colorado Springs. He was toting his oxygen bottle connected to his nostrils by a plastic tube. He was of sad countenance and explained that he had recently moved from Texas. He then offered that his grand-children had been removed from their home for reasons left unsaid, then lamented, “They’re in foster care, and I am not allowed to see them.” With that his voice broke, tears began to well up and he slowly shuffled out of the auditorium. When I inquired further, one of the elders said he a recent attendee and they didn’t yet know his full story.
Observation: There are people all around us carrying incredibly heavy burdens. Their families may be a wreck; their health might compromised; their latter years are uncertain and they may have no one to care for them. If you are not in any of these categories, give God thanks for your health, independence, supportive family and myriad other blessings that make life on earth bearable and peaceful.
The adoptive parents. A Christian couple took us to dinner along with their two adopted children. They specifically sought to adopt children who were afflicted with disability. Their 8 year-old son’s kidneys were damaged at birth, and he had an adult kidney transplanted into his abdomen. This solution will suffice for now, but it will have to be revisited in the future. Their daughter’s legs were malformed and she has some facial irregularities, but she lit up when she smiled! Both children were full of personality, and the little boy carried the conversation at dinner.
Observation: How encouraging to meet this couple and see their heart moved by the plight of less-desired children. We often pray for the unborn that they will enter the world healthy. There is nothing wrong with such a prayer, but let us not fall into the trap of thinking that the impaired child is of lesser value. In our culture, children are aborted for less. When Moses balked at his commission to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage, God replied, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?” (Ex 4:11). While God may not directly cause such maladies, He values the afflicted and can use them to His glory – as He did Moses in his inarticulateness and Paul with his “thorn in the flesh.” Parents of such disadvantaged children must learn this lesson, and most come to see their challenges in a completely different light than outsiders who pity them for the “burden” they bear.
The discouraged preacher. We met a young evangelist who had earlier abandoned preaching due to abusive treatment from brethren (he is again preaching full-time). In all my years I have never heard of a preacher who quit preaching because of grief heaped upon him from unbelievers or denominationalists, but I have heard plenty of stories from those who were harassed out of the pulpit by fellow Christians. As my mother-in-law used to say from her experience of 70 years as a preacher’s wife, “Some of the meanest people in the world are Christians.”
Observation: I have now been preaching over 44 years, and I began in the most discouraging congregational situation of my life. I was twenty-one, single and, in retrospect, too young and immature to try to salvage a church that was dying. I learned a lot of hard life lessons from that short stint. In the years since I have dealt with combative critics, gossip, subsistence wages, double-standards, criticism of my family and other challenges that many preachers face. Some might say, “Comes with the territory.” But why should it? Why not say with Paul, “Now if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do” (1 Cor 16:10)? Young preachers are not in great supply these days, and I think I know some of the reasons why.
The discouraged elder. Another brother formerly served as an elder, but his struggles with an obstinate, overbearing, know-it-all preacher eventually spurred his resignation. His wife, deeply wounded by the experience, has sought solace in a “nonjudgmental” community-type church as she struggles to heal. Her assessment: “The Church of Christ has developed its own caste system.” Perhaps she is not entirely wrong as zeal can easily morph into self-righteous exclusivism.
Observation: Conviction can be twisted into pure meanness. Legitimate defense of the gospel can breed intractable stubbornness which, like a mal-functioning immune system, attacks the Lord’s body. Let us measure our words and learn compassion, patience and wisdom. Hypercriticism is the great danger of the religious conservative. The Lord is judge of all, not us, so let us not encroach upon His prerogative.
