Dear one,
The day has been relatively uneventful—although I know that it has not been so for some dear to me. I am presently seated at Gate H41: those flying to Sibiu, Romania have just boarded, as have those flying to Dublin, Ireland. In two hours I will fly from Munich to Cluj, Romania, thus completing nearly 24 hours of travel—approximately 20 hours shy of the time required to reach Lira, Uganda.
Truly, my travel here has been uneventful: family members drove me to Cook International (Indianapolis); from there I flew to Chicago O’Hare, and from O’Hare to Munich, approximately 7.5 hours wheels up to wheels down. Moreover, each airport has afforded me the opportunity to read and write in comfort—including Internet and FaceTime access. And of course, the flight from the one continent to the other also afforded a relatively good dinner and the viewing of a favorite movie on my iPad.
Although I’m not deliberately seeking to understate my present experience, I know that my description is lackluster—in truth, rather mundane. However, that this is so has given me pause for thought: How is it that many of us might tend to view my present experience as commonplace—nothing exceptional? What do I now take for granted, which a hundred years ago would have been viewed as a Jules Verne pipe dream?
Yes, you and I have been gifted with many advances and therefore opportunities that are remarkable, but these are not what garnered my attention as we jetted thousands of feet above the Atlantic; instead, Paul’s words gave me pause:
“[Everyone] among you, do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has given” (Romans 12:3).
That is, many have enthused: “What you’re doing, Stan, encouraging pastors, is wonderful—an act of faith.” Whether or not wonderful, or an act of faith, I’ll let others determine, but this I know: just as I have been the beneficiary of many remarkable advances, so too I have been gifted by the faith of so many others—including yours. If advances beget advances, even more so, faith begets faith.
In 30 minutes we will board for Cluj, but I go not alone; for by faith, by yours and that of the many who have preceded us, I will seek to encourage Romanian pastors, theological students, and church leaders with the measure I’ve been given.
Faithfully,
Stan