I would like to tell you a true story about a young man who spent much of his life in the “Shadows” if you will. There are gaps of years in his history, about which we know little. However in later years he became a famous writer and his book became a worldwide best seller, published in nearly every nation and language.
Johnny was a city boy, whose father had passed away; his mother was making a reasonable living running an upscale boarding house. He helped his mom run the boarding house out of their home; it was big enough to house 20 or more guests. There were always chores to be taken care of, and he kind of enjoyed getting to hear some of the talk, and observe the people who came there to stay.
One time he nearly got into serious trouble. A large group of people arrived for a big convention taking place in the City, and after dark all the men went out in a group. His chores were finished and his curiosity got the better of him, so he followed them to see what they were doing and talking about. What he was not aware of was the fact that the City Fathers were getting ready to arrest the leader of the group on serious charges. As they surrounded the party and arrested the leader, one of the officers spotted Johnny in the shadows and grabbed him. He escaped by the skin of his teeth, and made it home by a roundabout way. Shortly after this dramatic and to him frightening evening, Johnny was presented with the claims of Jesus as the One who had died for his sins, and he gave his heart and life over to be a real Christian.
He began to associate with other believers, and then one day his Uncle Joe came to visit. Uncle had become a leader of a Christian Ministry, and was preparing to go to preach in some foreign countries. He invited Johnny to accompany him, and said they would take another man with them. Johnny enthusiastically agreed to go along.
During their tour of the first island nation, Johnny found himself called upon to do most of the ‘donkey work’ and then to his dismay he found the converts were looking at Uncle Joe as only second in command. The man that his uncle had chosen assumed the leadership of that ministry. Johnny just couldn’t take that, and he quit. Just picked up his bags and went home. For years he continued to serve the Lord, but he felt bitter about his Uncle’s colleague.
Several years later Uncle Joe suggested another trip, but said it would just be the two of them. Johnny agreed, and over time he had opportunities to preach the Gospel. As his ministry experience grew, he gained more and more self confidence, and word of his ability began to be noised abroad.
Almost 30 years after finding Jesus and serving the Lord, he was approached by Pastor Tim, a highly respected minister, and asked if he would be willing to join the team of the very man against whom he had in early years held a grudge, the same man who had supplanted his Uncle Joe.
Pastor Tim told Johnny that he had been sent by that very man, to ask Johnny to please come and help him. Now with self confidence and maturity he was able to see the big picture. Personal issues were not as important as the task of making Jesus known in lands and places where people had not even heard the Gospel once. Johnny decided he would lay aside all bitterness and pride and become the co-worker of the man he formerly eschewed.
Johnny decided to write and publish a book about his experience, as a Christian, to tell others what he knew about Jesus. It was not a very long book, but it had a strong emphasis on action, and was well received. This is the book that has been published in nearly every nation around the world. You probably know Johnny and Uncle Joseph.
Johnny, the man in the Shadows, who went from:-
- Curiosity to Christianity,
- Mischief to Missionary,
- Deserter to Disciple,
- Manhood to Maturity,
And finally became a coworker with Paul the Apostle, who had rejected him in the beginning.
This impulsive young man who once stood in the Shadows of the Olive trees in Gethsemane, as a young fellow, went on to serve Jesus all his life. He was the only one who heard and recorded Jesus prayers of agony, while all the Apostles slumbered and slept. When you read the Gospel of Mark, you are reading the book authored and published by Johnny, whom we today call John Mark! His Uncle Joseph, is perhaps better known to us as Barnabas.
There are some lessons we can take from this story.
Every one of us has to walk this journey. There are people we are thrown together with in every ministry, who outshine us, who irritate us, or from whom we wish to be as far away as possible. We sometimes are given tasks we do not desire. Sometimes asked to do work someone else should have done.
As I look back on my life, there were people I was thrown into close contact with. People with whom I would never have chosen to work. At the very beginning of my ministry, I started my first church, paying for everything out of my own pocket.
When the church became self supporting, a leader of the denomination claimed that this was his church, because I had started it in a city over which he claimed to have jurisdiction. I felt that the time had come for us to move on, and so I handed the work over to him. I began to work in association with his brother, with whom he was competing for territory, so he was not too friendly to me after that.
One man was a Missionary Accountant, who spent his Sunday Evenings in a Night Club in Kananga, the Congo city where I was currently based. I had to work with him, he held the purse strings for his Mission organization. M.A.F. did flights for his Mission, and I had to collect the money for our services to his mission. I needed to keep my attitude right, and let God be the judge of his walk with the Lord.
You may encounter many discouragements along the way, but if you keep looking at the big picture, at the incredible impact of the Gospel, you will keep on serving the Lord with Joy and a sense of personal fulfillment. Don’t ask “Lord what will this man do?” just ask the Lord what He wants you to do, and keep at it.
For every one of us on our Spiritual Journey, we have the prospect of growth and maturity and ultimately productive ministry in the Kingdom of God. We need to be patient and keep our gaze on Jesus. If we are sincere the Lord will work out the details, and around the bend in the road will be a glorious end, as you hear your Lord say “Well done good and faithful servant”.
John Kilpatrick, faithfully Pastored a church in Pensacola, Florida. One day a revival broke out that lasted for years. When it seemed to many people that revival had finally died out, John Kilpatrick moved on, and recently started a new work in Mobile, Alabama. In mid-August of 2010, without any fanfare or pre-arrangement, God began to move in those meetings and within weeks, hundreds have been saved, healed, and they were witnessing miracles.
Whatever your ministry currently is; if you are faithful and keep your relationship with the Lord clean and submissive to His leading, God may invite you to be part of something much bigger.
I challenge you to bow not only your head but your heart and make a fresh dedication of yourself to the leading of the Lord in your life. Ask Him to show you the next step in His agenda for you, and until He does, be faithful doing what He has given you to do today.
© 2011 Jim Cole-Rous
{Story references: Mark 14:51-52, Mar 14:14 – Guest Chamber = Gk: ‘Kataluma’, Acts 1:12-13, Acts 12:12, 1Peter 5:13, Acts 15:37, Act 13:4-5, 13, Act 15:38-39, 2Ti 4:11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very helpful to me for the ministry. Philemon 1:24 Paul calls John Mark his coworker.}
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