{"id":21236,"date":"2020-10-11T06:54:03","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T11:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=21236"},"modified":"2020-10-11T06:56:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T11:56:37","slug":"gods-people-always-on-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/gods-people-always-on-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s people: Always on duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul to Timothy: \u201cBe instant, in season and out of season.\u201d\u00a0 (2 Timothy 4:2)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(I was in revival in the St. Louis area.\u00a0 This was eight years ago.\u00a0 Here is what I wrote….)<\/em><\/p>\n

I met Sarah three mornings ago when she and three co-workers were having breakfast in the hotel where I was staying while in the St. Louis area for a revival.\u00a0 The four of them were sharing a small table, obviously enjoying one another\u2019s company. As they got up to leave, I called over to them. \u201cHey, do you guys have a minute?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a cartoonist and I would love to draw you. It takes one minute and it\u2019s free. Would you let me draw you?\u201d<\/p>\n

They mildly protested that they might be late for work, but they lingered and I sketched them, two guys and two girls. All in their early 20\u2019s. All young and cool and looking good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work at Buckle,\u201d one said. I had no idea what that was.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a denim store in the mall. Right next to the food court. You ought to come by.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I had been in the food court the previous afternoon sketching people, trying to connect with them for whatever purposes the Lord might have.\u00a0 I promised to run by the next time I was there. Buckle? Interesting name.<\/p>\n

That afternoon, after a brief nap, I grabbed my drawing pad and walked over to the mall, just across the parking lot from my hotel. I found \u201cBuckle\u201d and stepped inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe, you came.\u201d That was Sarah, one of the four from that morning. I was impressed she remembered my name when I\u2019d not remembered hers. Some of the others heard and came over.<\/p>\n

One by one, their co-workers, maybe a dozen in all, crowded around and I drew them. Perhaps a customer or two, it\u2019s hard to know.<\/p>\n

At one point, Sarah said, \u201cJoe, look at this.\u201d She had pulled a slipover sweater and a pair of denims off a rack and brought over for my inspection. \u201cThese would look so good on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I laughed. \u201cI\u2019m drawing everyone in the store and you\u2019re trying to sell me clothing?\u201d This was a first. I have sketched people in stores from one end of this country to the other, but no one had ever tried to sell me something while I was doing it. Sarah was the first.<\/p>\n

I told her it was a little too youthful for my taste. \u201cThey\u2019d look good on a 25-year-old. I\u2019m 72.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo problem,\u201d she said, and she was gone. I kept sketching.<\/p>\n

In a few minutes, she was back with a black cotton sweater. Now, that was more like it. I pulled it over my shirt, checked the result in a mirror, and told Sarah to cut off the tags, that I\u2019ll buy it.<\/p>\n

That night at church, I told the congregation of Oakridge Baptist Church, \u201cI want someone to go into Buckle tomorrow in the Mid-River Mall. It\u2019s next to the food court. Ask for Sarah. And invite her to church. Tell her to bring the entire crew. They are super people, and you will enjoy the visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next night, Sharon, a member of the church, caught me as I entered. \u201cI met Sarah today,\u201d she smiled. I said, \u201cYou went to the mall?\u201d She had.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she was everything you said\u2013very nice and receptive to what I shared. And look!\u201d<\/p>\n

She was wearing a new pair of jeans Sarah had sold her.<\/p>\n

We both laughed. Sarah is something else. You go to invite her to church and she sells you clothing.<\/p>\n

Sharon said, \u201cShe\u2019s a managerial trainee and won\u2019t be here long.\u201d<\/p>\n

We both agreed she\u2019s going to be one super manager. She is so good at what she does, and she never loses track of what she\u2019s there for.<\/p>\n

The pastor told me a few minutes later that he had dropped by the store also, and had met Sarah. He didn\u2019t say if she sold him anything.<\/p>\n

This is the way you and I who follow the Lord Jesus Christ should be: always on the job, ever watchful and alert for opportunities, never distracted.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I used to be in awe of Dr. Billy Graham when he would appear on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show.<\/em> This was a program devoted to finding humor in everything, but once in a while Carson would bring on a serious guest, someone he truly respected. The results were almost always fascinating. I would sit in my living room taking it all in, impressed by the fact that Mr. Graham did not seem overly in awe of his surroundings, the celebrities in his midst, or the umpteen million citizens watching his exchange with Johnny Carson. He was natural and funny and always\u2013always!\u2013strong and clear in his witness for Christ.<\/p>\n

Knowing myself, I would have been something of a chameleon, I\u2019m afraid\u2013taking on the coloration of my surroundings. Billy Graham was the same on that stage as he would be later in my office when we made plans for the funeral of his colleague, Dr. Grady Wilson. He was utterly consistent in his love for Christ and the vision for evangelism the Lord had given him.<\/p>\n

Focused.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A football team is lining up to kick a field goal. It the kicker puts the ball through the uprights, 3 points are added to the score. In some cases, that is the winning margin. In order to try to distract the kicker, fans in that end of the stadium do all in their power to distract him.<\/p>\n

The basketball game has come down to the wire. A player on the opposing team has a free throw at \u201cthe line,\u201d one that could make the winning difference. The fans in that\u00a0 end of the arena are going wild, waving banners, flags, pompoms, anything, to distract the shooter.<\/p>\n

The kicker and the shooter train hard and discipline themselves to keep their focus and not be distracted by anything going on in the stands.<\/p>\n

Eyes on the prize.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our friend Sarah has a goal in mind. She wants to manage her own store. And once that happens, don\u2019t be surprised if she sets higher goals, such as running the entire company. The little we have seen of her has left us with that kind of impression.<\/p>\n

Paul said runners compete in races hoping to win the prize. In his case, the prize was \u201cthe high calling of God in Christ Jesus\u201d (Philippians 3:14).<\/p>\n

Later, as he was nearing his own personal finish line, Paul said, \u201cHenceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.\u201d Such an award is not reserved for him alone, he stressed, but \u201cfor all those who have loved His appearing.\u201d (II Timothy 4:8)<\/p>\n

I keep hearing people say the journey is the whole point of the Christian life\u2013or any life, for that matter\u2013and not the destination.\u00a0 I hear that and scratch my head, wondering what in the sam hill that means.\u00a0 A few hours from now I will check out of the hotel where I\u2019ve been the last five nights and drive home to suburban New Orleans, over 700 miles south of here. The journey will be good, I trust, but it\u2019s a means to an end\u2013a destination\u2013and not the end in itself.<\/p>\n

Life is a journey but the destination is the whole point. I fully intend that when I take my final breath here, I will take my first breath of celestial air in the next instant. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. It\u2019s the promise of Scripture and the hope of my life.<\/p>\n

God help me to be on the job for Him every day He leaves me here, witnessing and blessing and encouraging and helping, all in His name and for His glory.<\/p>\n

Never losing track for a moment of who we are, whose we are, and what we were sent to do. <\/strong><\/p>\n

I know Christians who seem to have lost their way.\u00a0 They go to church irregularly, read the Bible seldom, and leave no indication that they have received a commission from Jesus Christ to represent Him in their world. As a result, the people around them come to some erroneous conclusions: that to live for Jesus is an optional, non-life-changing thing, that the Christian life is modeled by this member of the frozen chosen, and that therefore there is no need for them to do anything.<\/p>\n

No wonder the Lord told the church at Laodicea that their lukewarmness was such an insult to Him He could wish they were either hot or cold, but the tepid temperature of their devotion made Him sick to His stomach (Revelation 3:15-16).<\/p>\n

In the same way Sarah is for her company, I want to be always on. Always on focus, always on duty, always on course. Always bearing in mind the ultimate goal of hearing the Master say, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the ultimate prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul to Timothy: \u201cBe instant, in season and out of season.\u201d\u00a0 (2 Timothy 4:2)\u00a0 (I was in revival in the St. Louis area.\u00a0 This was eight years ago.\u00a0 Here is what I wrote….) I met Sarah three mornings ago when … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,39,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelism","category-faith","category-heaven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21236"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21247,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21236\/revisions\/21247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}