Come to Macedonia
God takes us and sends us to the most incredible places
The Apostle Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia. You can read about this in Acts 16:9-15. In it the man is saying, "Come help us." God has a way of sending us sometimes to places where we didn't expect to go to do things we didn't expect to do. It might be someplace as scary as a Sunday school class or to a choir rehearsal to join a choir. Or it may be to share God's love with people not like us. This past Sunday we celebrated the 40th anniversary of a predominantly Anglo church with a Korean pastor and a Latino district superintendent. The pastor never dreamed he would pastor a non-Korean congregation he confessed, and the district superintendent never dreamed he would pastor or serve as a DS in an anglo conference. God is funny that way.
Obedience is the key. If God says go, go! God will come with us. The journey may be long (training, seminary, licensing school, lay servant school), but it will be worth it. Even if it is one life that is touched for the better by God, then it was all worth it.
PRAYER: Loving God, I can hear you calling and I want to say yes. Help me because my lips and mind sometimes say no. Help me make the journey to the place you would have me serve. This I ask in Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
The text for today: Acts 16: 9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. 11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
