We did our normal routine. Donna got up a little earlier than me and started getting ready for school. I rolled over, grabbed my laptop and began checking email. About 15 minutes later, we worked on the crossword puzzle together. We said goodbye and she headed in to work. To avoid rush hour, I normally will check the paper, work on my to-do list, and then work an hour or so at home before I head in to work.

    The morning paper had the normal “stuff” one expects, except one picture that caught my eye. A high school girl had been killed in a wreck near our house. While no name was given for the young lady, I was sad that one so young could be so tragically snatched away. The car in the accompanying picture was a horrific sight. I put the image in the back of my mind — like so many other tragic images that come my way every day through TV, magazines, newspapers, and the web. The image was horrible, but I was able to keep a detached distance and go on my way.

    However, as I headed in to work, Donna called me. She was clearly upset. “Please pray for me today and for the mom of the girl that was killed in the wreck yesterday. She was my student in first grade. Her mom helped out in my room. The girl was precious and her mom is wonderful. I know she has to be devastated. Please pray for this mom to get through this!” Suddenly, the detached distance between our family and this family was collapsed. This wasn’t a distant and theoretical tragedy, but one that hit close to home.

    Every day we get information overload on tragedies, horrors, needs, disasters, injuries, and deaths. The instant and pervasive nature of email only adds to this. So how do we handle all this information without becoming calloused and hardened against such pain? How do we keep from becoming jaded? How do we live as salt and light in a world filled with so much decay and darkness?

    The only way I know to answer that question is to look at Jesus. How did he manage to do it with all he saw and knew? I believe that the Holy Spirit has left us a clear template on how we are to deal with such pressures in Mark 1:35-45.

    Jesus had finished a hard day of ministry. Early the next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus went off to a lonely place and prayed. He re-centered his day in the Father’s will and his own mission. Peter came to him and said, “Master, everyone is looking for you!” Clearly there were many others who had needs.

    “We must go to other towns and villages because this is my mission.” Jesus would not have his mission be held captive to the thousands of needs that existed. He would serve, minister, heal, bless, and comfort, but he would do so in the context of the mission that God had given him to fulfill.

    As Jesus journeyed toward a town, a man with leprosy was standing by the road. In faith, he asked Jesus to help him become whole. Jesus stopped, reached out and touched the man, and then healed him.

    What about his mission? Jesus would continue it! But here was a man who had a need that God had placed in his path as he went on his way to fulfill his mission. So Jesus ministered to him, blessed him, and healed him. It wasn’t a hurried up, “Be healed!” and on down the road for Jesus. It was personal. He touched the man even before he healed him. He gave him compassion, love, and dignity by treating him as a person of value and worth specifically while he was still viewed as an outcast and a leper by others. Then he healed his physical needs.

We will continue to face an overload of information about problems, needs, and concerns.

    We will continue to face an overload of information about problems, needs, and concerns. We cannot minister to each of them. However, we can begin each day by spending time with God and re-centering our lives and our plans in his will for us and in our mission to honor him. Then, as we go on our way accomplishing this mission, we can be free to serve with dignity and compassion those God places in our path.

    Most folks know the story about the man along the beach in Mexico. A heavy tide had washed thousands of starfish up on shore. As he walked along the beach, he was tossing the starfish back into the surf. Eventually a curious person walked up to him and asked him what difference, in the grander scheme of things, he thought he could make by tossing back a few starfish when there were so many that had washed up on shore. The man looked affectionately at his cynical questioner, picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the ocean. He then replied, “I just made a big difference to that one!”

    As we go about our mission following God’s will, we are accomplishing things to honor and bless the Kingdom. In addition, when God places someone in our path and we serve that person with dignity and compassion, we also make a big difference to that one person!

    Let’s not be overwhelmed with the great need, but serve when given the opportunity.

    Let’s not get so caught up in the vast needs of the world that we forget our mission from the Father.

    Let’s not be so consumed with our mission that we lose sight of the needs in our path.

    Let’s make a difference to that one that God has placed in our path to serve.

 

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Title: "In Our Path"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: October 6, 2003