Rachel’s gone now.
I had been in charge
of her medical training for three years. During that time, I had taught her
medicine and prayed daily for her and spoken of Jesus to her when God urged me
to do so. I had been sincerely concerned that she should come to know our Lord.
She has now finished
her training and moved on into life, career and family. I may never hear from
her again. I have no idea whether God will one day bring her to His side
through distant voices and different experiences.
Luke, in his book of Acts, devotes more than five chapters
to Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem and his subsequent trial. Throughout this ordeal,
over and over again, Paul tells his story and the story of the Christ who had
saved him. In these chapters, we see politics, personalities and intrigue swirl
around him as he moves through history, faithfully sharing the gospel.
And nowhere in any of these chapters is there any evidence
that anyone accepted Christ through Paul’s message. He shared the gospel
whether or not it increased his suffering. He shared the gospel whether or not
he saw people coming to faith.
How much of our Christian work and words do we pursue because
they are truth and how much is guided by the response of the world? Can we move
forward into our own history, speaking the truth, acting the truth we know,
whether or not we see any positive results, whether or not that truth adds
suffering to our lives?
And this is not just about personal witness. So much of life
we start and never see the finish—the child we never finished raising, the book
we never finished writing, the broken loved one we never saw whole.
Like the last leg of a relay with the finish line over the
hill beyond our sight—the last leg of the relay, after a glorious handoff to
the only one who can finish the race, over the hill, where we cannot yet see,
but one day will.
Can we trust God with the results of our lives when we may
never see them come to pass? Can I trust God with Rachel’s future?
Dear God,
Let me trust you with
the future when I am no longer part of the plan.
Amen
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