Opportunities

Opportunities It is hard to measure the value of an opportunity.  What is it that makes an opportunity valuable?  Is it the number of people involved?  Is the the sum of the results obtained? Is it the way one feels when the opportunity has come and gone? Is it a great opportunity because I say it is?  Is it great because people say it is? When I say I have an opportunity which of these measures am I using to judge that opportunity?  Can I really judge the value of an opportunity?  I believe I can. I have come to believe that Jesus in me is the measure of every opportunity.  That fact that Jesus is willing to be with me whatever my opportunity is makes the opportunity great.  If the opportunity were of little value, why would He go with me all the time?  His presence in me and with me defines every moment I live as a great opportunity to live Him. This is what I have come to believe.  It is not yet what I have come to feel.  Sometimes what I believe and what I feel take a while to meet. I know and believe that every moment with Christ in me makes even being alone a great opportunity.  I know and believe that speaking to one person is a great opportunity. I know and I believe.  Sometimes I even know and believe and feel this!  That is spiritual progress. I recently had an opportunity to spend 4 days in northern Brazil.  It was a great opportunity. I knew it was.  I believed it was. I even felt it was.  Then I boarded the flight home and spent 9 hours getting home by myself on airplanes.  Just Jesus and me on  planes and in airports for 9 hours.  It was a great opportunity.  I knew it was. I believed it was.  I just didn't feel it was.  I just wanted to get through it quickly. It is the mark of a truly mature saint when they can just be with Jesus and think that is a great opportunity.  I will get there!  I will know it, believe it and feel it! Matthew 28:20b  I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen   Bud McCord Abide International