More than a week ago, the big lighted traffic signs started appearing on all the roads leading out of the Red Bank area: "July 3 Fireworks … Expect heavy delays between 8 pm and 10 pm … Use alternate route." No matter which road you took those signs appeared, meaning there was no alternate route to take! If you were in the Red Bank area on the evening of July 3rd, you were going to get stuck in heavy traffic. It got me thinking that life is often like that … sometimes there are no alternatives, you just have to slog your way through your chosen path, being faithful and doing what you believe God has called you to do.

It is the lesson that John Wesley learned in the midst of his doubts. After returning to England from his failed missionary work in this country, Wesley wondered if he shouldn't just give up preaching. In his journal from March of 1738 he records this conversation with Peter Bohler, a man who provided Wesley with much spiritual guidance:

Saturday, March 4. I found my brother at Oxford, recovering from his pleurisy; and with him Peter Bohler; by whom, in the hand of the great God, I was, on Sunday, the fifth, clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved. Immediately it struck into my mind, "Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?" I asked Bohler whether he thought I should leave it off or not. He answered, "By no means." I asked, "But what can I preach?" He said, "Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith." (Journal of John Wesley, March 4, 1738)

Again, there are times when you just need to keep on going the path God has called you to, even in the midst of doubts, fears and even failures … there are no alternate routes.

It is the message that I find in this delightful, even humorous story placed in the book of Acts. It is recorded as part of Paul's missionary journeys. Paul and his company find themselves in the city of Troas, or Troy. Not much is known about this particular leg of their journey and it is their only recorded visit to this particular place. Maybe this is the reason Paul feels compelled to share everything with them! We don't know the subject of his preaching, but we do get the idea he was a tad bit long winded: "Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer." As Paul goes on … and on … Eutychus falls three stories out of the window and is picked up dead. Pausing in his preaching, Paul checks out the commotion, picks up the boy, and tells the crowd not to worry, there is life in the boy. It is a kind of Monty Python moment, as in Spamalot: "I'm not dead yet!" Then, Paul picks up and goes back to preaching until it is time for him to leave in the morning.

There are some interesting commentaries on this text, with all the usual gymnastics done to make the text fall neatly into something sensible. Was the boy really dead, or did he just have his breath knocked out of him? Why does the narration switch perspectives during the story? … and so on. An interesting perspective is put forth by Dennis MacDonald at Iliff School of Theology. MacDonald proposes that the story of Paul and Eutychus is retelling the story of Elpenor from Homer's Odyssey. (For the Homer fans in our midst, here is a link to the article.)

In the midst of all the serious exegetical work, I hope the downright hilarity of the story comes through, bringing with it the call to stick to it. Paul wasn't having the best of days here … he's trying to get his message across, poor Eutychus falls asleep and is presumed dead … Paul, almost nonchalantly says, "Don't worry he's still alive." Most people would have given up at that point, called it a day for preaching and moved on. Not Paul … he's still got more to say and so he goes on … and on.

The story is for me a reminder that sometimes sticking to our calling and being faithful is the best we can do. Paul lived with the assurance that God had claimed him to preach and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Nothing would or could deter him from that truth. However much the writings and theology of Paul might annoy and irritate, I do give him credit for his dogged persistence in faithfulness, and find this story one of the most vivid examples of his persistence.

Again, sometimes placing one foot in front of the other … keeping the faith in spite of our stumbling and failure is what it is about. There are at times, no alternate routes. We just need to slog through, wait in the world's traffic and keep faithful to the journey God has called us on. I think of the job of parenting … as parents we are entrusted with the lives of our children, to guide them, to do the best we can do. Even when things aren't going well, we don't have the luxury of giving up. We keep on going and going with our children. Sometimes the heartbreak of parenting is that even when we do all the right things it doesn't guarantee the best results … but still we have been called to the journey of parenting and we are faithful.

Like Paul in his preaching on that night in Troas:

When all is said and done, we follow in the example of Jesus Christ who took no shortcuts in his love for us, whose faithful living sentenced him to his death. Jesus knew what it was to be faithful to the claim of God upon his life. It is in his example that we go forth, keeping faithful to our journey … knowing that God goes with us and will see us through … no matter what.