Stretched

I read these quotes today. Maybe you have seen them before, but it was fun to see them on a Kenyan pastor's blog. He was challenging his congregation to put their hope in a limitless God. In Germantown Wisconsin I needed that reminder too.

• ‘Airplanes are toys of no military value’ Ferdinand Foch, 1851-1929, French soldier and professor of military strategy
• ‘The mission Columbus has proposed is folly… the Atlantic Ocean is infinite and impossible to travel’ Talevera Commission, 1491
• There is no need for the Patent Office. Everything that could be invented has been invented’ – Head of the US Patent Office in the 1890’s
• ‘Who wants to hear actor’s talk?’ H.M. Warner, 1881-1958 regarding the possibility of talking movies replacing silent movies
• ‘We have reached the limits of what is possible to achieve with computer technology’ – John Von Neumann, in 1959

I am beginning to schedule a visit from an East African young man who works among the poorest of the poor. He will come in October and tell stories of being stretched in his faith as he works with the children in the largest slum south of the Sahara. Do you know anyone who would like to hear? Sometimes I get discouraged that there will be no interest in listening, learning, being stretched out of our comfort zones. Have we reached the limits of what is possible?

When the apostle Paul wrote a letter to believers in Phillipi during the 1st century, he included the often quoted ,"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". What I find fascinating is that he had spent lots of time telling the Christ followers of his troubles, the ups and downs of his crazy, very not-boring life. Stretched beyond limits, we then find the quiet words to say Jesus is enough, He is our strength, He is present in it all. Unlimited Holy God, I want to know this to be true in my life.