Years ago, when I was a teenager, I attended a
church in another town for a service. I can't remember why we were there and I
don't remember the message, but I do remember the mission board at the back of
the church. It was a world map with the locations of all the missionaries they
supported.
There was another thing on the map that caught
my attention...it was a little red flashing light. This little light was on the
mission board with these words below it- "Each time this light flashes
another soul passes into eternity without Christ."
My first thought was, "Oh, that's a neat
thing." But, after taking my seat in the service it started to bother me.
Often, during the service, I would look back at the light and it was still
blinking. It started to bother me…a lot! My thoughts ran from, "I wish
that would stop!" to "What if I just unscrew the bulb?" and "how can these people ignore that light and just sit here?"
What seemed like a neat idea at first started
to really bother me. It has bothered me for many decades since. That little red
flashing light, meant to communicate the need for missions, has been an ever-flashing
light in my life to remind me of the crisis of humanity.
As Penn Jillette said, "If you really
believe this stuff and don't tell me about it then you must really hate me a
lot!" So, today, once more, maybe for the 10,000th time, I'm thinking of
that little flashing light that has been flashing in my mind for these many
decades. My prayer is that I would be part of God's plan to help many I meet
not be one of those eternal flashes.
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