Our jobs are easy today!

Compared to the eleven apostles who were left (after Jesus died and rose again and Judas was gone) to spread the Gospel far and wide to all nations, our jobs as disciples, evangelists, Christians, are easy indeed. It just doesn’t always feel that way a lot of the time. I believe I have finally found and started to fulfill my God-given purpose: to write modern-day novels based on Old Testament stories in the Bible to help people in today’s world better understand God’s messages in them. But sometimes the road seems long and the path rocky and uneven. I make mistakes, agents turn me down, spreading the news (marketing) is costly, even some friends and family aren’t interested or are critical of what I’m doing. I feel discouraged, stuck – like maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all to quit my day job and go full time and full-speed ahead into following this road. I’m sure even the apostles felt overwhelmed and weary sometimes as they faced hardships (of course, much worse than mine): being imprisoned, getting bullied and beat up, getting kicked out of town. They even argued with each other (like when I argue with members of my publishing team!) as depicted here in The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci (which I happened to be lucky enough to see in Italy last year). And then something good happens…a reader tells me not only how much she enjoyed my new book, The Runaway Prophet, but how it turned her back to reading the Book of Jonah in the Bible again to re-examine God’s message; a review in a magazine encourages others to read it; a bookstore says yes to a book signing event. For every few “no’s” there is a “yes.” The path gets a little straighter, less rocky for a time, and it is enough to keep me moving forward again, to renew my faith. I feel like I am often driven like the apostles, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) And I get frustrated when some doors just won’t open or I’m not spreading the word fast enough, far enough. I’m reminded that when Jesus sent out the apostles, he warned them it would not be easy, but it would be worth it. “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet…do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you…Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” I am re-energized and I hope you are too. Time to move on!