18:18 So Paul still
remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria,
and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea,
for he had taken a vow. 19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself
entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to
stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, 21 but took leave of them,
saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will
return again to you, God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.
22 And when he had
landed at Caesarea, and gone up and greeted the church, he went down to
Antioch. 23 After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the
region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
What I love about this seemingly boring and almost
unnecessary travel itinerary is that it tells a story. Paul is on the way to
Jerusalem. He could have just gone directly but he doesn't. He deliberately
stops and visits each city where he has spent time planting churches. He goes
back to encourage them. He cares too much to just preach and run and leave them
with no followup.
What can we learn from this? Life is full of connections.
Everywhere we go, school, work, and all other associations, we meet people. We
connect with certain ones. We have an impact on them and they on us. Often as
life continues moving we lose some of those connections. We change schools or
finish school or change jobs or move from one place to another. What about
those people we left behind? Do we check in once in a while to see how they are
doing? It's not realistic to maintain active friendships with everyone we meet.
Not even Jesus could do that. However we can check in from time to time,
especially with those we know can use some encouragement.
I am no stellar example of keeping in touch but I have
learned over the years that when God puts a person on my mind, He does so for a
reason.
We are blessed today to have so many ways to communicate
regardless of distance. Take advantage. I just spoke with my brother who is
6000km away and as soon as I'm done here I'm going to contact a friend in
Tanzania.
Do you remember that crazy guy in the cemetery in Decapolis
that Jesus freed from demons and restored to his right frame of mind? Do you
remember that the man wanted to come with Jesus buy Jesus told him to stay and
tell his family and friends what God had done for him? Jesus left him and went
back across the sea. However He did return for a visit.
Who will you reach out to today? Maybe it's time to retrace
some steps... :)
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