In Step with the Unseen Master

I never thought I would live so long as to see people writing a date as exotic as 2010. Not that I have experienced life-threatening illnesses and was expected to die. I think it is more that I spent so many years writing dates that began with 19 and it was just unimaginable to write a date that didn’t start with those two digits. Writing a date that started with 20 was just other-worldly. And now I have been doing it for more than ten years.

Not only the date has changed, but the world has changed. My own father, who is still alive, tells about a milkman who delivered fresh milk in glass bottles to their house in St. Louis from a horse-drawn wagon. The horse was stone blind but was so well trained and so familiar with his daily route that the milkman could get out of the wagon at the head of the street and run back and forth from the wagon to the houses, one after the other, and the blind horse would move up the street without direction in perfect coordination with his unseen master. Maybe ‘without direction’ is inaccurate because the horse could hear the footsteps of his master and would occasionally hear a verbal command as full bottles were carried to each house and empty ones were brought back and put in the wagon. But the horse didn’t need someone pulling on the reins to keep him in perfect harmony with his master’s will.

James says in chapter three, verse three, “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.” But here was a horse who worked with his unseen master even when no one was pulling on the bit.

To those of you who encourage us somehow in our pastoral ministry to missionaries I want to say that you are like that horse. Some of you pray for us, some donate resources, some are always ready with a warm smile or a kind word. You keep us going. And I think it unlikely that an angel drops down from heaven before your eyes and says, “Do this for Terry and Nancy this month.” Maybe that happens, but more likely you are just so well in tune with what your unseen master expects of you that you stay in concert with His steps and your kindness to us is part of that harmonious relationship. Either way, we are the very grateful beneficiaries. And we want you to know that we see your obedience as extraordinary.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8-9