A Cup of Cold Water
International travel takes a toll; normally good attitudes threaten to become foul under the strain of disorienting circumstances.
The cry for mercy matters here: ‘O God, show Your infinite patience to this sinner, this grumbler, that I may in turn show some measure of patience and mercy toward the needy in this land.’
He always answers our cry for mercy. It is a prayer that guarantees His gracious response.
I remember an unusually long trip to New Zealand in which we did conferences on both islands, poured ourselves out in a weeklong training then faced a crisis in national leadership toward the end of our time there. I sat with my colleagues in a cold damp motel room and whined.
My good friend comically mocked my grumbling. We laughed, we prayed for mercy; He gave us His power, and helped us to help the New Zealanders sort out the crisis at hand. He gave us mercy
During our first couple of trips to a new nation, our hosts would arrange media events—TV or radio interviews, mostly Christian, mostly annoying. (Keep in mind at this point I am inclined to whine…) These were usually scheduled before our training times—early in the morning or during meals. The scrappy, rather make-shift state of their operations made it worse.
I remember a South African TV interview in which everything went wrong, technically-speaking. It took twice as long, and I thought to myself: ‘What’s the point? We are preaching to the choir here, and a not very vital choir at that—Christian ‘shut-ins’ who are reduced to watching this drivel in the wee hours of the morning. This is a complete waste of time.’
Media darling that I am not, I finished up and forgot about it.
About a year later, I was ministering to a friend back in the USA, a well-known Christian leader who was dying of AIDS. Few knew that was his condition: he had a brief history of bisexual behavior a decade earlier, contacted the virus then, and when it threatened his life, decided to not make public the reason why.
Obviously, he combated significant shame as he fought for his life. He was a fine and virtuous man who so valued the few who knew the truth and who gave him mercy in it.
What he told me that day changed my view of Christian media. It seems that about 6 months earlier he was passing though South Africa on a ministry trip; he began to get ill for the first time, and stayed a couple of nights in an airport hotel to rest before the long flight home.
Apparently, the Christian TV station played my interview over those two days. Each time he saw it, he received a washing of the Lord’s mercy. My televised words gave him grace and courage to cast off shame and prepare for the battle at hand. He thanked me profusely for extending mercy to him in those crucial days.
A grumbling minister hands a fellow struggler a cup of cold water. In spite of the interior attitude of the messenger, the message of mercy goes forth. Our God is gracious, so intent on releasing mercy to His thirsty that He will use anyone to extend it. That’s the mercy of God.
‘As You have shown us mercy, O God, in the desert places of our lives, would You show mercy to the beleaguered state of marriage in the USA? As the Perry vs. Schw. case wends its way to the National Supreme Court, prepare for Yourself a victory. We shall render to Caesar what is Caesar’s but we shall prayerfully fight for what is Yours, O God. Prepare the hearts of each justice, especially Justice Anthony Kennedy, to uphold marriage according to Your merciful design. Remember mercy, O God.’
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