By David Ryser
No
man can avoid what he’s meant to do. At
the moment he’s meant to do it. (Marcus
Aurelius)
Alan is my friend. Alan is a great guy. I am not one who trusts easily, but I trust Alan
without reservation. I would trust Alan
with my life, my wallet, and my wife.
Alan pastors a church. I have
tried, on more than one occasion over the years, to become a part of Alan’s
church. But I just can’t seem to pull it
off.
When I go to Alan’s church and sit
in the service, it feels like I’ve got my shorts on backwards. It’s not dangerous…it just feels weird.
So I don’t attend Alan’s
church. But I really like Alan. We meet once in awhile and fellowship
together. We talk about the things that
are dearest to our hearts…our hopes and our dreams. I’m safe with Alan, and he speaks powerfully
into my life.
And I appreciate him, and love him,
more than he knows.
I am a courier. I began working at this job toward the end of
my 14 year pastoral misadventure. The
church was small, and didn’t have a lot of money to pay to a pastor, so I
needed a job to provide extra income. A
courier’s job entails driving around and making pick-ups and deliveries. It does not require a great deal of brain power.
This is a good thing, in my case.
Typically a courier has an assigned
route that varies very little from day-to-day. The job becomes routine. This can be advantageous because the courier is
able to do the job and think about something else at the same time. Or worship.
Or pray. Imagine having a job
where you are paid to hang out with God.
No church I served ever paid me to
hang out with God.
I kept the courier job after I left
the pastorate. I had a lot to think
about, and the job paid the bills. I
kept the courier job when I taught at a school of ministry. The flexible schedule, the income, and the
opportunity to prepare emotionally and spiritually for the next day in the
classroom made it the ideal job for me.
I kept the courier job after I left the school and the church I was
attending. I needed to heal, and God
wanted to talk with me.
It’s hard to hide from God, or
anyone else, in a motor vehicle.
So I’m driving on my courier route
one day, and my cell phone rings. I see
that my friend Alan is calling me. I
answer the call. Alan is very
excited. He’d heard something from God
for me and is anxious to share it with me.
“I know what you are! I know what
you are!” This was potentially very
good news for me because during this season of my life, I didn’t know who or
what I was. If you had asked me what
part I was in the Body of Christ, I would have answered, “The appendix.”
“So what am I?” I asked.
“You’re a courier!”
What???!!! I’m thinking, “Well, duh! Are you
joking? I’m driving around in a courier
vehicle. On a courier route. Of course I’m a courier, you dunderhead!” What I said was, “A courier?”
“Yup. A courier.”
Alan was absolutely thrilled with
this revelation. Me…not so much. I thanked him, somewhat insincerely, for
sharing this word from God with me.
Missing the sarcasm in my voice, Alan assured me it was his pleasure and
ended the call.
A courier…. For crying out loud!
I continued driving on my route.
About 20 minutes after my conversation with Alan, God spoke clearly to
me. He didn’t say much. Only three words.
“You’re a courier.”
And revelation exploded in my
spirit. For the next several minutes it
was all I could do to capture and process the truth that was being poured into
me. And at the end of that time, I was
quite content to be God’s courier from then on.
You see, a courier’s job is to pick
up an item from one person and take it to another person. Typically a courier has several items of
various sorts (pouches, envelopes, packages, etc.) in the vehicle. Each of them needs to go somewhere. Each of them goes to someone. And each of them must arrive at a certain
time. It is very important that these
items be delivered to the right place, to the right person, and at the right
time.
They must not be delivered to the
wrong place, or to the wrong person, or at the wrong time. Or all three.
The items the courier is picking up
and delivering do not belong to him at any time.
They were the property of someone else when he received them, and they become
the property of someone else when he delivers them. Although they are in his custody, and he
carries them, the items never belong to him.
And the courier very rarely knows exactly what is in the containers he
is carrying.
Wow. (I love the word WOW. You can say it frontwards: WOW.
You can say it backwards:
WOW. You can even say it
upside-down: MOM)
In a sense, we are all God’s
couriers. We are carriers of the life,
nature, love, compassion, and power of God.
We have been called to be the light of the world and the salt of the
earth. We have been commissioned to be
witnesses (not to do witnessing) of God’s kingdom. We are anointed to minister God’s life
wherever we go. The anointing God has
placed on us does not belong to us. It
has been given into our custody by God to pour out onto someone else. It is important that we take this gift from
God and give it to the right person, at the right place, and at the right time.
And when we speak God’s word to
someone, or minister His power to them, we many times do not know the situation
in the person’s life we are speaking into or ministering to. We just make the delivery.
We are couriers. God’s couriers.
By the way, I recently had the
opportunity to thank my friend Alan for speaking this life-changing word from
God into my life. Of course, he does not
even remember the conversation.
It figures….
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
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