Friday, January 9th

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Friday, January 9

Acts 9:17-22

So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

I met Charlie during my freshman year of college. We lived on the same floor with 25 other freshman guys and two upperclassmen who served as “Hall Counselors.” Charlie and I weren’t close friends but got to know each other a bit simply by living on the same floor.

Here’s what I knew about Charlie: he did almost everything I had been taught not to do! He was the classic college party dude. He drank lots of beer; his girlfriend stayed in his room on weekends; and while I never saw him smoke pot, his end of the floor often reeked of marijuana. He could also be quite creative in his use of profanity. Charlie was also very smart and for some reason I remember that Charlie was an English major.

I, on the other hand, was the preacher’s kid who didn’t drink, smoke or swear but, other than those lifestyle choices remained rather private about my faith.

I wasn’t looking to make any kind of spiritual impact on anyone; I wasn’t asking God to use me as an influence on my classmates; I was just trying to be one of the guys without compromising my faith. I was just hoping not to be too weird.

If you had asked me to share the gospel with Charlie I would have balked, and said something like, “I don’t think Charlie would be interested...” or, “I’m not sure even God could reach Charlie!”

Charlie and I didn’t see each other much after freshman year and both of us graduated four years later and went our own ways.

Fast-forward 15 years or so. I was sitting at breakfast glancing through the quarterly magazine from my alma mater and I came across an entry in the “class notes” section for the class of 1978.

It read, in part,

“Charlie so-and-so and his wife will be serving their first term with Wycliffe Bible Translators.”

I almost dropped my coffee cup! This was my old hall-mate Charlie! He had become a Bible translator? A missionary? Are you kidding me? Charlie? How was that even possible?

Then I remembered he was an English major.

Here’s how Luke describes the transformation of Saul of Tarsus:

And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Can you imagine the shock those early Christians would have felt hearing Saul of Tarsus proclaim that Jesus was the Son of God?

Can you imagine my surprise in learning that my old classmate had become a Bible translating missionary?

Is there someone in your life right now that you tend to think of as “unreachable?” Do you have a friend or family member who is disinterested or even hostile toward the gospel? Do you know someone that you can’t even imagine becoming a follower of Jesus?

Most of us do.

Are you willing to pray for that person? Would you be willing to commit to praying every day for 30 days that Jesus would reach the unreachable, and that, if he so chooses, he would use you to help with the reaching?


Pastor Brian Coffey