Hark, the Herald

My mother and daddy, 1982
(Daddy's Cherokee 180, Bogalusa, Louisiana Airport)

"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them." (1 Timothy 2:1)

By our eleven-year-old grandboy's recommendation, we're reading Hatchet - a 1987 Newberry award winning novel by Gary Paulsen. In the story, after the pilot dies from a massive heart attack, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson crash-lands the plane in the Canadian wilderness and must survive alone with nothing but a hatchet. (I keep having this urge to pray for Brian - to tell him he's not alone; God's with him - and have to remind myself that he's fictitious.)

In his letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul urged the young pastor to intercede on behalf of all people. "This is good," he wrote, "and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth." The truth that there is one God and only one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity - the man/God Christ Jesus, who gave His life to purchase freedom for everyone (1 Tim. 2:3-6).

And we, beloved, are God's chosen heralds to pray for all people and broadcast the good message of Jesus. The message that God gave the world His Son at just the right time. His Son, Jesus, died in the place of sinful man and rose again. The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!

Are you heralding?