My Chariot of Fire

Tonight I went out to meet with a group of young men and women as I do every Thursday night.  It’s a great group of young people from around Europe led by three middle aged American missionaries of whom I am one.  We teach the Bible and are trying, by God’s grace, to help them grow into the future leaders of the Church in Europe.

Tonight it was my night to teach.  I love teaching.  I especially love teaching about the Bible.  I have heard that where passion meets talent is where one finds his sweet spot in life.  My talent is teaching, my passion is God’s word.  Bible teaching is fun for me.

Fun may not be the best word to describe it actually.  Fun is watching a baseball game.  Fun is playing a board game with my daughters.  Fun is bowling with my wife.  For me, teaching the Bible gives me a sort of high.

This is not like a drug high, or an endorphin high that one might get from a good run in the morning.  It’s not an emotional high like the one I had the day I asked Sasha to marry me or when my daughters were born.  It’s a sweet spot high.  It comes from being right where God made me to be and doing what He wants me to do.

Eric Liddell was a very famous and very fast runner.  The movie "Chariots of Fire" was largely about him.  He was once quoted as saying, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

God did not make me fast.  He made me to teach His word, and when I do, I feel His pleasure.

You who are reading this, I don’t know what your purpose is.  I don’t know what in your life will be like running for Eric Liddell or teaching for me, but I encourage you to find what in your life gives God pleasure.  When you do, you might just find out what Eric felt when he ran and what keeps me awake in the middle of the night writing this blog.

May you find what in your life gives God pleasure, and may it bring you the joy you were made to have in Him.

Eric Liddell Running on July 19, 1924