I took a trip to Germany and Ireland at the end of February. I wrote about the first day of the Germany leg back on March 5. I had intended to write several blog posts detailing various portions of my adventure within a few days of my initial post. Here it is, the last day in April, and I'm just now getting back to it. In one sense, I'd like to pick up where I left off. But, as it's been so long, I really don't feel like going back down that path. I've slept nearly 60 nights since then, and already some of the details of the trip are a little hazy.
But this also reminds me that in a variety of ways and at various times, I leave things undone. I have good intentions - I start off in a direction, but then one thing or another gets in the way, and I abandon my previous plans. I would love things to be much more neat and tidy. I would like to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, that at least makes sense, even if it doesn't always end up "happily ever after." Sometimes things just end up unfinished.
Towards the end of his letter to the Romans, in what we call chapter 15, the Apostle Paul explains to the houses churches of the Imperial Capital that he hopes to join them soon and use Rome as a base for further mission work, in places like Spain. But before he can journey to them, he needed to deliver a monetary gift from Gentile churches in the Eastern part of the Empire to the Judean believers in Jerusalem. Paul did indeed deliver the gift to the Jerusalem church, but while there he was taken into custody and was eventually transferred to Caesarea where he remained for over two years. Out of desperation, Paul, being a Roman citizen, appealed to the Emperor's court in Rome. After a lengthy and dangerous sea voyage, Paul finally arrived in the eternal city. But how the apostle to the Gentiles wound up at the city of seven hills was completely unexpected. It's unlikely Paul ever made it to Spain. So, in a sense, Paul's mission was left unfinished. And this wasn't the first time in his life where Paul's plans where altered in some capacity (see Acts 16:6-10).
Often, when I get to the end of the day, I didn't quite accomplish all that I had set out to do. It's the same when I reach the end of the week, the month, or the year. But, each day has only 24 hours, each week has only 7 days, each month has only 4 weeks, and each year has only 12 months. And each person has only one life to live. And when we come to the end of our lives, whether long or short, undoubtedly, we will have left many things undone. Life is a series of loose ends. But that doesn't mean that our lives will have been necessarily unfinished.
Paul learned to live with the tension of loose ends and unfinished business. He was faithful in the tasks that his Lord placed before him, but he was consistently reminded that God's Kingdom was finally God's work and God's business. Though its hard to imagine any other person having as much of an impact on the work of the Kingdom, even Paul's work was only a very small tile in God's large mosaic. And Paul trusted Jesus to bring it to completion in his own time and in his own way. Whatever work Paul would have completed in Spain, he entrusted to his Savior. We must learn to do the same.
So, though I had intended to share the details of the remainder of my recent Euro journey, those stories will for now remain untold. And even if they never make their way into narrative form, I have no doubt that they'll be told and re-told in the age to come. And like all of our lives, they'll make much more sense when seen, read, and heard from the perspective of eternity. Until then, we press on. - Shay
