Hanging On - Recently, I attended a wedding in Chicago. It was genuinely an amazing day! Memories were definitely made. One memory will live forever for the group of us who shared this particular moment. While standing outside the church building, where the wedding took place, our group couldn't help but notice the statue of St. Paul that hung out over the entrance forty or fifty feet over head. What was he up to?
Waving Them In - Our group jumped to immediate conclusions as to what he was doing... Of course we were in a very spirited mood. It is hard to tell what the arm is doing since it is frozen in time. Was he waving his community in? Okay, we'll go with that. "All are welcome here." Didn't Jesus say, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses"... oh, wait "Come to me you who are weary and burdened..." What did St. Paul say? "By meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you - I, Paul, who am timid when face to face with you, but bold when away."
Study Your Bible - If Paul was perched outside our building he would be reminding us all to study our Bible. We know that each finger represents one Bible discipline, the middle finger reminds us to study it. Maybe that is what Paul is doing.
At A Crossroad - He is overlooking an intersection of two busy streets. Perhaps he is just mimicking what he has seen going on there. As someone pointed out once, Christians need more hand signals at their disposal when driving. "One way to Jesus" doesn't really work.
Frustration, Disillusionment, Rejection, Desertion - I suppose most of us would give St. Paul some latitude in this area. He did have his share of disappointments in ministry. He didn't always respond with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, though I am sure that was the goal he "pressed on toward". He didn't always do what he should do, but he always ended up with his do do. I am so glad what we do isn't set in bronze when we do it!
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