Paul.

I think we sometimes look at the greats of the Bible, the amazing people in it, and we only see the big picture- the idea that they went from place to place with the gospel, but we forget what details go with that. We forget that they too, like us, have daily lives. It takes traveling time. And gathering resources that God gives you to get there. And it takes prayer all amidst it. I think we just see the fact that it happened and not how it happened. It is important that we see the how. The "how" is what will get us from being a stagnant follower of Christ to an obedient, moving follower of Christ. I'm not saying everyone has to travel around the country. God calls each person or group to their own purpose. But I mean moving as in the way your heart is- are you ready to actively GO wherever Christ calls you. Both physically and in your heart. Do you have that obedient submission to actually go there when he calls, or let him lead you if you don't know the way. That's the how. Letting him lead. I'm sure there were apostles who were the busy bee, type-A type. Always planning where they were going, what time they should arrive, when they were going to eat. (Luke 10) "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made… 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed."  Himself. His guidance. His "how-to" and your submission. Martha, focus on the goal. Christ is in your house. Christ is the homeless man on the street. Christ is your kid who needs you to be home to help you with his homework. Christ is the teenager who doesn't know what to think so he chooses to slide quietly in submission to his peers. Satan doesn't have to get us to worship another God, he just has to get us to somehow defy the one True God. Satan is key at distraction. Martha, Christ is coming to your house today and will you stop cleaning and just let him in? or invite him in for that matter. He's got a beautiful victory ahead of you… just ask him about it, whether the house is clean or not:)

Haha- wikepedia says that Type B people tend to call Type A people "stress junkies". So true. But funny wording. And it also says that Type A people generally call type B people "apathetic or disengaged". True. Martha complained to Jesus: "'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!'" Hmm. God has made sucha  beautiful contrast in his Creations.  Man and woman struggle with each other, yet man and women compliment each other. Type A and Type B struggle with each other, yet Type A people and Type B people compliment each other. God has made something beautiful. A beautiful puzzle where you know all the pieces have a place, they are just there to be found. And there's a key to the puzzle in the box. His name is God. We just have to ask him where each piece belongs. And he's more than willing to tell us.

Side note: I think that one thing evil brought into the world was miscommunication. He messed up everyone's communication to make us not as effective. Let's get our armor on and slaughter this enemy. Despite differences in personality, gender, race, whatever… we compliment each other. Everyone has a place. And then they went from town to town telling the Word. Boldly. And fearlessly. God has brought about all types of people- Marys and Marthas alike.

And each of them was human. Paul was human. He needed prayer to speak as boldly as he spoke. Ephesians 6:18-20 "19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." He needed prayer. He knew it. He knew the "as I should" segment all too well. I am not exactly sure about this but we normally don't ask for help with things that we don't struggle with. If I am great at Algebra and could finish my homework in 10 minutes, I don't normally ask someone to help me and make it take 30 minutes. (haha there's my Type A coming out.) So we can see that Paul struggled with this. "Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." Paul was human.

And he and all the other apostles traveled. From church to church. Town to town. When I was sitting in church this morning thinking about this, it reminded me of a tour… like a concert tour. It sort of seems like bands make more of an effort to travel and share their lives and influence with people than many Christians do. I'm not saying there aren't followers of Christ out there going all at it with all they've got… I'm saying that there are quite a few followers of Christ who follow their favorite band on twitter more than they follow Christ in their heart. (and I understand, following Christ is much harder than hitting the "follow" button in Twitter, but we should- like Paul knew he "should"- be more excited about listening to Christ than we are about listening to our favorite band.) (I am preaching to the choir a bit but the choir is definitely hearing with an active ear and responding:) I think a modern-day Paul is what Ode might become- traveling from town to town. Speaking truth about poverty and love- boldly and fearlessly. We'll see I guess. I'll be praying about it. And we ask that you pray about it for us as well…"Pray also for [us[ that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." Satan doesn't realize that he can put us in chains but that God gave us a mouth that can't be shackled. Let's speak the things God tells us to say fearlessly and see where He takes us (geographically as well as spiritually). Here we go!!!