Just Say Yes

 March 20, 2022

I wonder if St. Paul was ever nervous about what lay ahead when he was on his missionary journeys. I wonder if during that day and night he was floating around, clinging to the wreckage of the ship that sunk underneath him (2 Cor. 11:25), if he ever questioned whether he had gotten a word from the Lord or had misunderstood. When we are weary, hungry, or in pain, it is easy to begin wondering if we are on the right path. And there are those times when we just plain wonder if this crazy adventure we are on came about as a word from the Lord, or was some fantasy of our own imagination.

I’m not having doubts about my going to Cuba; but I do get nervous. I don’t like leaving my wife behind, going through customs is always an unwelcome adventure, and I’m not one who seeks adventure for the sake of the thrill. Just this morning, I preached again in Cassadaga. It’s been awhile since I’ve done so, and my stomach was churning the entire time, just like it used to when preaching was part of the job. I would have been quite happy if like Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel thundered from heaven, “STOP! You don’t have to preach this morning; I was only testing you.” That didn’t happen, of course, and I went through with it.

I’ve had a running argument with those who say following Christ would be worth it even if the Gospel weren’t true. St. Paul is on my side on that one when he said, “If Christ be not raised, we are of all men most miserable…our faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17, 19). It wasn’t the joys and pleasures of this life that impelled Paul on his missionary journeys. It was the love of Christ that would reach down and take a sinner like himself, pick him up, give him a job to do, and a reward at the end—that’s what motivated the apostle. 

I have no special talent. My preaching isn’t particularly dynamic. My scholarship is limited, and my Spanish is laughable. I go, not because I have great wisdom to offer, but because I’ve been invited, which I interpret to be the call of God through the invitation of his people there. I’m a firm believer in the concept that it’s not our ability, but our availability that God is after. The former is limited, but the latter God has completely, and that is enough for me.