A Ton of Feathers
Has a Bible verse ever hit you like a ton of feathers?
The summer of 1979 I was at the opening service of a missionary society convention held on the campus of Purdue University. My friend Tom Going was reading John 20:19-23, where the newly-risen-from-the-dead Jesus appears to His disciples on Easter night. The ton of feathers crashed down on me, when I heard these words: “As the Father has sent me, I AM SENDING YOU!” (John 20:21b).
Tom didn’t shout the last words. The capital letters were added by the Holy Spirit as the sound waves traveled from Tom’s lips to my ears. Why?
My sister-in-law Gayle had recently left for Japan to become a missionary. Her departure motivated my wife Julie and I to consider our role in God’s mission. We were reading everything we could find about global missions and asking every missionary we met “What’s it like?” — including our friend Tom Going, who had served many years in Japan.
Fast forward a year: We and our 3 pre-schoolers were moving to Venezuela!
I’ve been doing some form of Christian outreach my entire career, and I’ve been writing all those years. Since turning 70 in Dec. 2018, I’ve prepared a blog site and a Facebook page to share these writings.
- For free.
- With anyone who wants to learn.
- So the Spirit can CAPITALIZE what He wants you to hear.
The Spirit of God loves to hit us with a ton of feathers. Although as heavy as a ton of bricks, His words do not crush us. They heal and comfort us, empower and embolden us.
Guess what verse has been hitting me in recent years? John 20:21, but with this emphasis: “AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME, I am sending you.”
I’ve been wondered: Why didn’t Jesus simply say, “The Father sent me; now I’m sending you.” Why did He say, “AS”? Is there something about the manner in which Jesus was sent that we can likewise participate in? Answering these questions led me to write a series of books:
- Fullness or Fraction in John (2017)
- Fullness or Fraction in Ephesians (2018)
- Fullness or Fraction in Acts 1-12 (2019)
Starting June 17, my blog site, www.philbickel.com, will begin featuring a series of posts based on Fullness or Fraction in the Gospel of John. Follow the action there or at my Facebook page, also entitled Fullness or Fraction.
Feathers will be falling — and empowering.