Friday, May 1st

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Friday, May 1

Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Back in the mid 1980‘s my brother and I co-led a short term mission team to Bolivia. We had a team of 12 former college basketball players, along with several wives and children - a total group of about 20 people. We spent 6 weeks traveling the length and breadth of Bolivia to play exhibition basketball games and share the gospel with those who came to watch.
Most of our travel was by bus; old school buses that looked like they had been driven for 20 years then left on the bottom of a lake for 10 years then put back into service.

We had to make several very long drives through the mountains on narrow dirt and gravel roads without guardrails overlooking steep valleys. We could often see small white crosses at the bottom that marked where other travelers had driven off the road!

We were on just such a mountain road, chugging our way up a steep and narrow passage when our Bolivian driver suddenly began yelling. “Mira, mira!” which means “Look, look!” When we looked up he was holding the gear shifter up in the air like a sword. It had come completely out of the floor, out of the gearbox, and the bus was still rumbling up the mountain.

We had a problem!

My brother and I were sitting in the front because we were the leaders but we had no idea what to do except prepare for certain death.

Then a 19 year old kid named Curtis, who was on our team and had grown up on the mission field in South America, came running up to the front of the bus and said, “You guys mind if I help?”

We said, “Uhhhhh...sure.” What else were we going to say? Seriously.

Curtis then grabbed the shifter and shoved it back down into the gear box until it ground into place. Then he held it there until the driver found tiny village where he could pull off the road and stop.

We were relieved, and alive, but now we were stuck.

The driver and Curtis were talking in Spanish while my brother and I tried to look calm and in control. Then Curtis turned to us and said, “We’re going into the village.” We said, “What for?” He said, “To find a welder to fix the gear box.”

“A welder?” we said as if that was the dumbest thing we’d ever heard. I mean, we were in a tiny mountain village in the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere surrounded by chickens and llamas, and you’re going to find a welder?

A couple minutes later Curtis came back and said, “We found a welder, but it’s his day off.”

We said, “Day off? He lives in Bolivia - how can he take a day off? Tell him we’ll pay double! Just get him out here.”

A few minutes after that Curtis came back with a Bolivian man wearing a welding helmet and carrying an acetylene torch. He fixed our bus in about 10 minutes.

We started this week talking about adventure. An adventure is an unusual or exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity. I pointed out that the Book of Acts could really be called “The Adventure of the Gospel.”

I think the Apostle Paul knew a thing or two about both the gospel and adventure. He knew that the gospel adventure begins with the love of Christ:

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge...


He knew the adventure of following Jesus is powered by the Holy Spirit...

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And he knew that the gospel adventure takes us to places we would never imagine in our wildest dreams!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Some people think the life of a Christian sounds boring. Some think that all Christians do is go to church and sit around reading their Bible all day. While those certainly aren’t bad things to do, following Jesus is about a whole lot more than that!

Following Jesus is the great adventure of reaching the world with the gospel! It’s a thrilling journey of faith, love, hope and courage that includes joys, sorrows, dangers and triumphs.

I think this is what Jesus meant when he said,

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

I’m pretty sure the Apostle Paul would agree!

Pastor Brian Coffey