Acts 9:1-9

9 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. ² He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

³ As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

⁵ “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! ⁶ Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷ The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! ⁸ Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. ⁹ He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.

Acts 9:1-9

Dear God, somehow, I’ve never thought about the men who were with Saul before. What were they like before, during, and after this experience? What happened to them after this? Did they become part of The Way? Did their families think they were crazy? What did this seemingly routine trip to Damascus do to them as well. We know what it did to Saul, but what did it do to them?

I guess this is a reminder to me that none of us, including Paul on that fateful day, go through life alone where what happens to us doesn’t impact others. I had my unique experience with you in the summer of 1987 at an FCA Leadership Conference, but it didn’t stop with me. It dominoed into some of my friends’ lives too, one of whom became an international missionary. Almost exactly 24 years ago, I had another significant moment with you at Laity Lodge when I was inspired by you to start doing these prayer journals. These have changed how I relate to you, and I know they have touched some others as well. And Paul’s life and his experience that day not only touched the men who were with him, but then Ananias later, and then the world. Amazing. In the words of Kurt Kaiser, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around can warm up to its glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love once you’ve experienced it. You’ll spread His love to everyone. You’ll want to pass it on.”

Father, help me to pass you on to others today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

“Pass it On” by Kurt Kaiser

“Pass it On” by Kurt Kaiser

It only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And soon all those around
Will warm up to its glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You spread His love to everyone
You want to pass it on

How I wish for you my friend
This happiness that I’ve found
You can depend on Him
It matters not where you’re bound
I’ll shout it from the mountain tops
I want the world to know
The God of love has come to me
I want to pass it on

Dear God, this is one of those songs from childhood that is a classic. We sang it at church, church camps, Bible studies, etc. The two summers that I was a camp counselor, we would use this song on the last night with our bonfire to say goodbye to the kids. Great, great song.

I had never thought about who wrote the song until I was about 21 or so. I was at Baylor and working part-time for a Christian music publisher called Word in Waco. One day, I met this really nice older gentleman named Kurt Kaiser. He didn’t work in the office, but he had come in to use our photocopier. After he left, someone told me who he was. We was not only the writer of this song, but also of “Oh How He Loves You And Me” (maybe I’ll do that song tomorrow). I was amazed. It’s like putting a face with a voice over the phone. I had just put a face with the song that had been part of stirring so much emotion. And the good news was that it was a good face. He seemed genuine and kind.

The thing that always struck me about Kurt is that he seemed to always remember me by name. I was practically nobody at the company. I was a part-time worker on the last rung of the ladder, but somehow he remembered me whenever he saw me. I would run into him at a restaurant in town and he would remember my name. Oh, how I hate the part of me that cannot seem to remember names. What an honoring thing it is to be able to show someone they mattered to you during your encounter by remembering their name.

Well, Kurt died this week. He wasn’t yet very old–in his early 80s. Of course, that made me go back and pull out these songs that I hadn’t heard in a long time. The poetry of the opening lines is brilliant. I would love to have asked him where he was and what he was doing when the inspiration of that metaphor came to him. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around can warm up to its glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love once you’ve experienced it. You spread His love to everyone. You want to pass it on.” Even those who have no love for poetry and think they can’t understand it, can get this one. It uses 44 words to explain something that a pastor could use an entire sermon to describe.

Father, help me to pass it on today. Help me to first, be part of the fire. Help me to move my embers close to you and then pass you on to everyone around me.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 

“Oh How He Loves You and Me” by Kurt Kaiser

“Oh How He Loves You and Me” by Kurt Kaiser

Oh how He loves you and me
Oh how He loves you and me
He gave His life, what more could He give?
Oh how He loves you, oh how He loves me
Oh how He loves you and me

Dear God, I haven’t heard this song in a while, but a friend posted a video from a service he went to last night at Baylor for homecoming and they were singing this song.

It’s a lovely tune and the lyrics are simple. I guess the crux of the song is the question embedded in the middle: “He gave his life. What more could He give?” Really, it’s pretty simple. You gave your life. What more could you give? You gave cane to earth as an example for my instruction and then gave it for my ransom. Really, what more could you have done?

Father, thank you. I probably owe you so many more thank yous than I give you. And although I’ve tried to give you my life in return I know I fail at that too. So I’m sure that in a normal relationship I would owe you a bunch of I’m sorries as well. But this isn’t a normal relationship because you gave your life. Yes, I still need to confess my sin to you regularly–more regularly than I do–but in the end your blood covers me. Which leads me back to thank you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen