Stop the Chariot!

 Last Friday Delores and I were privileged to complete a journey that began a year ago but was prematurely interrupted by sickness (no, not Covid related). In October of 2019, we were concluding a long road trip which included Washington, D.C., Cooperstown, NY, and Niagara Falls. Our final stop was the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky. We purchased the combo ticket. After that day at the museum, I was sick. Delores drove us home the next day. Fortunately the ticket would be honored for the next year. After enjoying the Ark Encounter this past week, we didn't head straight home.

Our detour took us to Mitchell, IN, to visit our son Daniel and his family. While there we got to celebrate a birthday and the baptism of a grandson. That Sunday we got to hear an excellent preacher present a dramatic lesson that included the story of the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8. It tells of Phillip's conversation with and conversion of this high official as he was returning home from worshiping in Jerusalem. As his chariot was driven leisurely south, the eunuch was reading from Isaiah. Phillip was explaining a passage about Jesus.

The travelers happened upon some water, and the eunuch asked, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” Phillip immediately exclaimed, "Stop the chariot!" [While the sermon was about baptism, this blog is not...so let's move on.) Two thoughts came to my mind as the minister continued his sermon.

The first was how busy we all are especially in a year as crazy as 2020 has been. Even though our lives sometimes move along at a calm pace as with the eunoch reading on his long journey home, there are other days when the tempo approaches frantic. We just need someone to call a timeout and holler "Stop the chariot!"

The second related thought was concerning the most famous chariot driver in the Bible. Jehu was aboard his turbo-charged chariot kicking up a dust cloud in the desert. The evil queen Jezebel's son Joram was king. He spied the speeding chariot and asked his lookout who it was. The man stated, "The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.” (2 Kings 9:20, NIV)  The KJV states that Jehu driveth furiously. Although Jehu needed to stop, let the dust settle, and smell the roses...there really weren't any flowers blooming in proximity. Jehu was in a hurry to squelch the evil of the queen and her son.

photo from padfield.com

The point of this rambling blog is that there are occasions to put the peddle to the metal and rev up your chariot to do God's work. Other times you just need to rest and refresh with the Word. When these latter daze are not so apparent, we can all use a friend or mentor who can step up beside us in our chariots and command, "STOP THE CHARIOT!"

My Mission Lazarus Story: Day 5

Day 5, Wednesday, June 9: I awoke at 4 a.m. and thankfully was able to rest in bed until 6:15 a.m. Breakfast was our second meal of French toast with bacon and a banana. Then it was off to Namasigue for the final day of work. On the way we passed a truck that seemed to have two dead cows in the back. Team members in trucks behind us said they saw them move. The morning was a little different as we only had a few bags of food to deliver. At the first home we met an older lady who was a Catholic. At first she refused the food gift, a first for us. Finally she was convinced that it was a gift with no strings attached, simply love from Christians wanting to help.The next home had four good prospects (a mother - I believe the sister of the lady in the first home - and three daughters); they were very receptive. After some persuasion they decided to wait until they could have more study. Though three of the four could possibly have been persuaded on the spot to be baptized, our team agreed it would be best to allow the local minister to follow-up with more intensive study later.The next home found a mother of four young children. This was what I termed our Relay for Life (named after the cancer survivor celebration that was in full swing as we departed for Honduras five days before just after midnight. The first leg for the relay team was delivering the food and making introductions. Photos were taken and candy and stuffed animals were given to the ever-present and ever-smiling children. Allen ran the next leg of the relay going through about a dozen scriptures with Espartaco interpreting. The 3rd leg of the relay was taken up by Taco adding to the momentum begun by Allen’s scripture-fest. After another 15 minutes or so, Taco was at a loss as to how or even whether to proceed with the persuasion. She was shaking her head no. She had indicated that her children were attending the church of Christ service on Sunday, but that she was attending a different church. Then came the anchor leg. The local minister Javier stepped onto the track. He had appeared to me not to be paying much attention to all that was being said. That was certainly a mistaken conclusion on my part. He began a very convincing 30 minutes of teaching Jesus to this young mother.After that time we were headed down to the river. The baptism followed. It was truly a joyous celebration. Thank you, God, for allowing me to witness this true Relay for Life.At the final home we said our greetings, delvered the food, and departed quickly through the small opening in the barbwire fence. It was a strange visit for reasons that eluded me. My curiosity must not have been aroused; perhaps I was hot and tired or still excited by what I had seen minutes ago at the river. For whatever reason, I didn't inquire about why the short visit.
Back at the work site, the team assembled in Javier’s house (on the property) for a tearful farewell. His father was facing a chemotherapy treatment the following week that “only” cost $200 (instead of the thousands it would have cost in the States); we were glad to supply that amount from the church at West 7th.We later had a similar farewell for the other local preacher who had served as interpreter all week, Marvine.Then we returned to Mission Lazarus for Chuck’s BBQ dinner. It was amazing.After ice cream and sharing time, I was in bed by 9:50 p.m.