“When would now be a good time?” has been attributed to many people, but I first heard it from my son who got it from Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker. Here’s what David Meerman Scott wrote in 2018:

Last week, I enjoyed presenting … at the Tony Robbins Business Mastery event in Las Vegas. The energy in the room was remarkable! While everything shared from the stage by Tony and me and the other great speakers … has potential for massive business change, the key is execution. You must start. Now.

“When would now be a good time?” asks Tony Robbins.

…

No change happens without action.

“Execution trumps knowledge every day of the week,” Tony says. 

We’ve noticed the past two days that Jesus sent people out on mission way sooner than we tend to do. I don’t know why churches are so slow to pick up on this. There are the Biblical examples we looked at: the demon-possessed guy of Mark 5, Matthew the tax collector in Mark 2, and the woman at the well in John 4. There are other examples as well. I’ve told this story from Alcoholics Anonymous before, but it’s worth repeating:

Two AA members went to call on a first-time visitor. The new guy asked one of the members, “How long have you been sober?” He replied, “23 years.” Then he asked the other one the same question: “two weeks.” The new guy turned to the 2-week guy and said, “Tell me how you did it.”

The story haunts me because we in the church would almost never send out a 2-week guy!

Back in the 70s, there was a profound book making the rounds, written by a former Communist, now a Christian: Dedication and Leadership by Douglas Hyde. While decrying the message of Communism and the way it works out in real life, Hyde said there were lessons to be learned in their training methods. The only one I remember (from nearly 50 years ago) was that they would take new members and immediately put them on the street selling Communist literature. The idea was that as they were insulted and asked questions they couldn’t answer, they would become more committed to the movement, and they’d pay attention to instruction on how to answer those questions. Being sent out on mission was a vital part of their training.

It’s not as hard as we make it out to be. Recall the story I shared a few days ago about the hockey fan who noticed a cancerous mole and warned the person. That story beautifully illustrates the simple implementable strategy I wrote about in Join the Adventure:

• Be there
• Pay attention
• Do what you can
• Tell the truth

But the story also illustrates “go before you’re trained.” The young lady intends to become a medical doctor. But she’s not one yet. She could have thought, “I shouldn’t say anything. After all, I’m not a doctor. I haven’t been trained.”

Let’s make 2022 our year to be God’s agent wherever we are. When would now be a good time to start?

Maybe Jesus’ word to the disciples about the Samaritan woman’s village applies:

As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time! (John 4.34 – 35, MSG – in other words, Pay attention! When would now be a good time?)

Yesterday, we looked at the demon-possessed guy in Mark 5, whom Jesus sent off on mission before he had been trained. This is not an isolated incident. In the very next chapter, Jesus sends the twelve off on their mission, and they hadn’t had much training either.

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. (Mark 6.7 – 13, ESV)

My experience is that most church people in this country are ready for mission after they’ve taken “one more course.” But of course, they’re not ready then, either. I’ve written about this before. I first started thinking about this when I was teaching some seminary students in Haiti. I had presented Regi Campbell’s progression of one’s spiritual journey from his book About My Father’s Business.

• Apathetic (I would add that some are even Antagonistic)
• Beginning to seek (A simple application so far is that we might invite a “B” to church. An “A” we would invite to a backyard barbecue.)
• Confessing Christian (at some point we hope they cross the line to faith, but we hope their journey doesn’t end there)
• Developing disciple
• Excelling reproducer

My Haitian seminary students asked me, “How long does it take to go from A to E?” In The Navigators, we used to say that if you had a convert (a “C”), that person could become a disciple (“D”) in 18 months and in another 6 months, a disciple-maker (“E”). And there’s truth in that. But what do the gospels tell us? As I thought about it, the demon-possessed guy in Mark 5 came to mind. He went from A to E (missional activity) immediately. So did Matthew the tax collector who hosted a dinner party for his “sinner” friends. And the woman at the well in John 4 reached a whole village.

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him…Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” (John 4.28 – 30, 39, ESV)

None of these three – the demon-possessed guy, Matthew the tax collector, and the woman at the well – were exemplary people. My Haitian students got it, “These were all bad people, and God used them right away. We wouldn’t do that!” I want to write more about that tomorrow.

If you’re following the 5x5x5 New Testament reading plan, you’re at least through Mark chapter 5 by now, which contains one of my favorite stories: the demon-possessed man Jesus frees. It ends this way:

As [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. (Mark 5.18 – 20, ESV)

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I’m a huge believer in equipping and training. I think it’s the central mission of the church:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

I also believe in growth over time, a lesson you might have seen in Mark chapter 4:

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. (Mark 4.26 – 28, ESV)

That said, what do we learn from the story of the demon-possessed guy in Mark 5? He begged Jesus to let him go with Jesus for training. Instead, Jesus sent him off on a mission…without training! Let’s explore this a little more tomorrow.

My first book, Join the Adventure, espouses a simple action plan that was originally told to me by my friend Gordon Saunders:

• Be there
• Pay attention
• Do what you can
• Tell the truth

I just saw a report that a hockey fan, who intends to go to medical school, illustrated this plan beautifully:

Here are some snippets of a report from World Magazine:

Assistant equipment manager Brian “Red” Hamilton was moving equipment on the Vancouver Canucks’ bench on October 23 in Seattle. He noticed a woman behind the bench pressing her phone against the plexiglass. A message in a large font caught Hamilton’s attention. The message expressed Nadia Popovici’s concern: She believed a mole on Hamilton’s neck was cancerous.

She was right.

…

Popovici could have looked the other way. She could have ignored her intuition. After all, banging on the glass to give someone negative news can’t have been comfortable. But her action displayed the sentiment of Mark 12:31 when Jesus admonishes, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The game in Seattle in October was the final stop on the Canucks’ opening road trip. Within a couple days of being back in Vancouver, Hamilton had team doctors look at the mole. They expressed concern, and Hamilton had it removed a few days later and sent off for a biopsy. The results showed cancerous cells in the mole. Doctors then removed a larger area of skin around the mole.

…

Hamilton has been with the Canucks for nearly 20 years. With the chaos of an NHL game, Hamilton was amazed Popovici was able to notice a mole he had no idea existed.

“How she saw it boggles my mind,” Hamilton says. “It wasn’t very big. I wear a jacket. I wear a radio on the back of my jacket that hooks on so the cords are there.”

Popovici has done a lot of volunteer work in hospitals, including a stint helping in a cancer ward. “I saw his and I was like, wow, that is a picture-perfect example of what a melanoma looks like,” she says.

This story is a picture-perfect example of be there, pay attention, do what you can, tell the truth.

There is no one who takes notice of me… (Psalm 142.4, ESV)

As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. (John 9.1, ESV)

And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth… (Mark 2.14, ESV)

Here’s something I hadn’t seen before, made possible by Mark’s bang-bang approach to the story of Jesus. He calls the original four disciples: Simon, Andrew, James, and John in chapter 1. He calls Levi (Matthew) in chapter 2, after which there’s a dinner party and exchange with the Pharisees:

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2.13 – 17, ESV)

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” What does that say about Simon, Andrew, James, and John? What does it say about us?

I started taking my shirts to the cleaners near our house when we moved to Monument, Colorado, in 2006. The attendant on duty was a guy in his early 40s named Russell. I remember thinking the first time I walked in that if I wanted to do Bible study with Russell, we could do it right there in the cleaners between customers. So I began by finding out his name, and every time I went in (two visits per batch of shirts!), I got a little more of his story. Finally, after a few months, I discovered a couple of issues. By that time, of course, he knew what I did – invest in men to help them follow Jesus.

So I “called him.” I said, “Russell, I’ve got something that may help you with your issues. You would have to do a little homework, and we could discuss it right here in the shop.” He responded, “Oh, so you think I’m a candidate?” (Meaning, you must think I’m a bad guy in need of your help.) I replied, “Russell, we’re all candidates.”

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2.1 – 5, ESV)

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit… (Titus 3.3 – 5, ESV)

Wow! The Gospel of Mark starts off with a bang. As the late John Madden would say, “Boom!” Here’s what I saw in Mark 1.

• John the Baptist prepares the way, 1 – 8
• Jesus is baptized, 9 – 11
• Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, 12 – 13
• Jesus begins to preach, 14 – 15
  • The time is fulfilled
  • The Kingdom of God is at hand
  • Repent and believe this good news
• Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, John, 16 – 20
• Jesus goes to the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath
  • He teaches, 21 – 28
  • The crowds are amazed
  • He casts out an evil spirit
  • The crowds are even more amazed
• Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law and others, 29 – 34
• Jesus starts the next day in prayer, then goes to other villages, 35 – 39
• Jesus heals a leper
  • “Don’t say anything”
  • “Show yourself to the priest”
  • The leper does the opposite of both!

Nine sets of events. Let’s focus just on verses 14 and 15:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1.14, 15, ESV)

Dallas Willard likened verses 14 and 15 to the arrival of electricity to his rural part of the world:

• The time has come!
• Electricity has arrived!
• Change how you do things, connect to the power, and live differently!

He wrote:

As a child I lived in an area of southern Missouri where electricity was available only in the form of lightning. We had more of that then we could use. But in my senior year of high school the REA (Rural Electrification Administration) extended its lines into the area where we lived, and electrical power became available to households and farms.

When those lines came by our farm, a very different way of living presented itself. Our relationships to fundamental aspects of life—daylight and dark, hot and cold, clean and dirty, work and leisure, preparing food and preserving it—could then be vastly changed for the better. But we still had to believe in the electricity and its arrangements, understand them, and take the practical steps involved in relying on it.

You may think the comparison rather crude, and in some respects it is. But it will help us to understand Jesus’ basic message about the kingdom of the heavens if we pause to reflect on those farmers who, in effect, heard the message: “Repent, for electricity is at hand.” Repent, or turn from their kerosene lamps and lanterns, their iceboxes and cellars, the scrub boards and rug beaters, their woman-powered sewing machines and their radios with dry-cell batteries.

The power that could make their lives far better was right there near them where, by making relatively simple arrangements, they could utilize it. Strangely, a few did not accept it. They did not enter the “kingdom of electricity.” Some just did not want to change. – Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God, pages 30 – 31.

The Kingdom is at hand. Will we connect with its power?

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3.14 – 21, ESV)

1099…sounds like a tax form, but it’s the number of blogs, counting this one, that I’ve published since I committed to blogging daily on January 6, 2019. Today completes the third year, 1096 consecutive days (including three days when I published twice!).

So what? Good question. I’ve written about “the streak” before: here’s last year’s offering with links to the end of the first year and an article on streaks.

I guess the work speaks to the dailiness of life and the importance of taking the next step. I don’t have hundreds of ideas filed away, I just write what God (I hope!) brings to mind. Some or most of what I write, you’ve no doubt heard before. As my friend Ray says, “Just because I’ve heard it before doesn’t mean I’m thinking about it now.” The same goes for me. The John 21 meditation I shared two days ago was a nice reminder to me of some important lessons I hadn’t thought about in a while.

Tomorrow (if tomorrow comes) will be blog #1100 and will most likely be from the beginning of our New Testament reading for the year, which starts with Mark’s gospel. It’s not too late to join us for the 5 x 5 x 5 plan. (In Monday’s blog, I appended a version of the 5x5x5 with readings that run Monday – Friday. Tomorrow is also Epiphany, the commemoration of the visit of the Magi. I already wrote about that, back on December 15.

As always, thanks for being with me on the journey. May you continue in the path God has laid out for you.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2.10, ESV)

And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” (Colossians 4.17, ESV)

I just finished reading the Bible through last year, and I was struck by the last recorded words of Jesus. We often speak of “the seven last words of Jesus” delivered from the cross, but I don’t recall ever noticing his last words recorded in Revelation. As we enter the New Year, flush with the excitement of the Christmas season – the celebration of his first coming – we would do well to remember that the story isn’t over. Here are the words of Jesus in Revelation after the first three chapters’ introduction and the letters to the churches.

Behold, I come like a thief! God’s blessing is with the one who remains awake and fully clothed in me and will not walk about naked, exposed to disgrace. (Revelation 16.15, TPT)

Behold, I come quickly! Wonderfully blessed is the one who carefully guards the words of the prophecy of this book! (Revelation 22.7, TPT)

Behold, I am coming quickly! I bring my reward with me to repay everyone according to their works. I am the Aleph and the Tav, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the Completion. (Revelation 22.12, 13, TPT)

I, Jesus, sent my angel to you to give you this testimony to share with the congregations. I am the bright Morning Star, both David’s spiritual root and his descendant. (Revelation 22.16, TPT)

The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22.20, TPT)

Nearly all have to do with his second coming:

• I come like a thief (16.15)
• I come quickly (22.7)
• I am coming quickly (22.12)
• I am the Aleph and the Tav, the first and the last (22.13)
• I am the bright Morning Star (22.16)
• Yes, I am coming quickly. (22.20)

As we go through 2022, let’s remember that as surely as he came once, he is coming back, and that should impact how we live.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness… Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. (2 Peter 2.10 – 14, ESV)

As I wrapped up my reading through the Bible in 2021, John 21 was on the schedule – a marvelous story of Jesus passing on one more set of lessons to the disciples – lessons that might be useful for us as we launch into the New Year. It starts with two distractions:

FISHING

Peter, not sure of what he’s supposed to do since he denied the Lord before the crucifixion, went back to what he knew – fishing.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” (John 21.3, ESV)

FRENZY

Then Peter launches into a frenzy of activity: he swims to shore from 100 yards out, then he splashes back to the boat to help bring in the net.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he…threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. (John 21.7 – 11, ESV)

INTERLUDE

Jesus puts a pause on all this frenzy and takes care of men who have been fishing all night: let’s eat!

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” …Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. (John 21.12, 13, ESV)

FEED MY SHEEP

Three times Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves him. Three times Peter replies that he does. Three times Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep. (John 21.15 – 17)

FOLLOW ME

Then Jesus predicts the manner of Peter’s death and reminds Peter what he should be doing:

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21.18, 19, ESV, emphasis mine)

FORGET THE OTHER GUY

Peter, always curious, asks about John, and Jesus’ response is clear:

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21.20 – 22, ESV)

There we are, five simple lessons. I shared this a while back at our church in Monument, and artist Lauren Vlcek took exquisite notes in her wide-margin Bible. Here they are, a fitting summary, and the text is there too.

P.S. On another subject, on New Year’s Eve, I published a challenge to read the New Testament this year using the 5x5x5 New Testament reading plan. My friend Jerry Anderson in Castle Rock, Colorado, reformatted the schedule into a 2022-friendly format which starts, wait for it…, today! So, again, join me in reading the New Testament through in 2022!

It’s hard to believe we’re starting a New Year and still living with, and writing about, COVID after all this time. And we’re still having endless, no-communication-occurs discussions about whether or not one should take the vaccine. I really hate to see fellow believers at the forefront of this debate, especially when it involves non-vaccinated people putting down their vaccinated brothers and sisters for lack of faith. There’s never a place for that in the Kingdom:

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (Romans 15.1, 2, ESV)

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. (Romans 15.1, MSG)

Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. (Romans 14.1, MSG)

As to the question itself, I’ve heard more than once something like, “I prefer the Psalm 91 vaccination plan. God will take care of me.” It occurred to me the other day that there’s an old story about “God will take care of me” that may or may not be relevant to this discussion. I present it here without further comment.

There was a massive flood, and a fellow was perched on his roof to escape the rising floodwaters. A man came by in a rowboat, but the fellow on the roof said, “No thanks. God will take care of me.” A few hours later, with the water even higher, another man came by in a rowboat offering rescue. “No thanks. God will take care of me.” Soon the fellow was at the very top of his roof with water lapping at his feet, and a helicopter flew over, dropping a rope. The man on the roof yelled up, “No thanks. God will take care of me.” A few minutes later he was swept away in the flood and drowned.

In heaven, he confronted God saying, “I placed great faith in you to take care of me. What happened?” God replied, “I sent you two rowboats and a helicopter. What more could I have done?”

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14.12, NKJV)