Our journey home from Greece included a flight from Frankfurt to Houston on Lufthansa. At least that was the plan. A weather delay in Athens made us miss our connecting flight. The airline wanted to put the ten of us traveling together in hotel rooms overnight and then on the same flight the next day. We were able to work it out so that we flew to Newark and then on to Houston, which added seven or eight hours to our travel “day.” From the time of our wakeup call in Athens until we walked into our home in Bells, Texas was a little over 30 hours. It was technically still Wednesday, but it was a very long “day.”

While I was exhausted, during the journey I tried to keep things in perspective by remembering the journeys of Paul. During our tour, I kept thinking about how Paul and his companions had to travel on foot to the places we visited. What would have taken them weeks to traverse, we covered in a matter of hours, chauffeured around in an air-conditioned motor coach. We travelled in luxury on a cruise ship around the Aegean Sea while Paul sailed on small vessels that made his journey treacherous. In fact, he said he went through three shipwrecks!

2 Corinthians 11:21b–28  What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. ²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, bandits, the threat of death around every corner, sleeplessness, hunger, thirst. Suddenly, my travel woes didn’t seem like anything more than a minor inconvenience.

Paul’s concern for the churches he had planted and for those he had not yet planted kept him going. He knew people were dying without Jesus, which would lead to their eternal doom. He was determined to bring people into a faith relationship with Jesus by telling them of His payment for the sins of ALL people and His victory over death as well. And he wanted to build up and encourage those who had already been brought to faith. What if Paul had modern transportation at his disposal? How much territory could he have covered?

You and I have been led by the Spirit of God into a saving relationship with Jesus. Your faith latches onto what He did to earn your forgiveness and life. That happened because Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke and others like them were willing to share the Good News. Thanks be to God!

Lord, thank you for letting me know that I am your dearly loved and forgiven child and bringing me into your family through Baptism. Thank you for keeping me in the faith and being with me every step of the way. Give me the drive of Paul to get the Word out to others. Help me use the conveniences we have today to assist my taking the message to the ends of the earth. Amen.