Several years ago I was in Hawaii on what is known as the Big Island. On the west side of the the Island of Hawaii is an area known as Kona. I met a man there while I was walking along the sidewalk and spoke to him. Later I saw him again and said hello and still again we crossed paths, this time at a small restaurant. While I was standing in a long line ordering lunch, I turned around and there he was.
After the initial greetings, I learned he was from Canada. He asked me if I was a Christian and then showed me the cuts and bruises on his hands. Cuts and bruises from practicing his trade. He was a carpenter and he was there as a Christian volunteer building a seminary. He was eighty-six years old.
E.V. Hill once said, ” A man’s life is like a baseball game…….you have to get to first base…..you have to become a Christian…you have to be saved.. But after you get to first base you do not want to stop there.
You want to continue on down to second . This is when you become a disciple of Christ…..this is the inward journey. On your trip down to second, you learn God’s Word and develop a strong spiritual foundation. You learn not only to walk with God, but to talk with Him as well.
After you arrive at second base you do not stop there….you continue on down to third. This is where you begin the outward journey. You disciple others. You become a missionary. You tell others about Christ and His plan of salvation.. Finally, after rounding third, you go home.
What happens to so many is that instead of rounding the turn at first and proceeding on to second, they cut straight across the pitcher’s mound to third…….and because they have no foundation in God’s Word and no walk with God, they get choked by the cares of the world. Or …….after they get to first base they turn right and go straight to the dug out to wait for the Rapture.”
I will always remember the day in Hawaii…. meeting a carpenter and his example to me as a servant of God ………still on his way to third base. It always reminds me of another Carpenter…..the one from Nazareth and the day I met Him and confessed my sins and asked Him into my life. God’s Word says in Philippians 2:5 …..”.let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”
Are you experiencing the outward living of the inliving Christ today? What base are you on?
Steve
(C)2008 Steven A. Johnson
2 responses so far ↓
1 Tammy Dixon // Aug 4, 2008 at 11:10 am
What a wonderful picture of the way our Christian walk should be. I have never heard is put quite that way but it really blessed me. Thanks Steve.
2 rozrzutniki // Sep 13, 2011 at 7:27 am
This is precisely what i was seeking. Thanks!