Published on 02/11/2008

I'll stay faithful to the last word I heard from God, knowing that every act of obedience today bears eternal reward and significance. I'll do what I can and trust God to do what I cannot.

It started out just like any other day. I was walking this morning when I heard the telltale screech of tires and thump of bumpers. Sure enough, a fender-bender soon came into view. Three cars in this one. I presume the back car hit the second car which hit the first car, though the second car could have hit the first car and stopped, causing the third car to hit the second car. Either way, I pity the driver in the first car. Not much he could do about what was happening behind him.

Walking on in my usual itinerary at SMU , I started back. A pregnant woman stopped me to ask if the library was open. She didn't want to walk across the campus unnecessarily. But I barely know where the library is, and had to admit as much. She shrugged and thanked me anyway. It was more than I deserved.

Forty-five minutes of walking, and what had I accomplished? I couldn't stop fenders from bending, or help a mother-to-be in her need. I then opened today's New York Times and learned that a car bomb killed 23 in Baghdad yesterday. I read about refugees fleeing the Darfur for Chad, not exactly a modicum of peace and prosperity recently. I learned that a rocket attack in the Gaza area injured two Israelis in the town of Sderot. There's not much I can do about Iraq or Africa or the Middle East.

In fact, there's not much I can do about much. I can't control whether you open or read this essay, or whether it helps you follow Jesus. I don't know if anything I said yesterday in church will be remembered by anyone today. I have no idea if anything I do today will be remembered by anyone tomorrow. Now aren't you glad you read this far?

But then I remember that it was a day like today when an obscure soldier got up to start his duties, oblivious to the fact that by nightfall he would become the first Gentile convert to Christianity. It was a day like today when a cloth merchant got out of bed, not knowing that she would become the first European follower of Jesus and that her commitment would open the Western world to the Christian faith. It was a day like today when Jesus' last living disciple trudged to a cave on Patmos, met his risen Lord for the first time in 60 years, and received the Revelation. Who knows what today may bring?

So I'll stay faithful to the last word I heard from God, knowing that every act of obedience today bears eternal reward and significance. I'll do what I can and trust God to do what I cannot. As I work, he works. I don't know why today matters, but he does. And that's all that really matters, isn't it?