This past week an old friend gave me a call, he was in town at a family reunion and wanted to catch up. We ended up spending the evening reminiscing; telling tales of our adventures since our last visit. In the midst of these stories, he shared a discussion he had with his cousin at their reunion. It turns out that she had become a missionary, working specifically in countries that are hostile toward or have outlawed Christianity.
On one of their trips, she and a small group of missionaries are bringing Bibles into this hostile country. With security being tight, the group wasn’t able to move the Bibles into a secure location, therefore the Bibles were piled in a bag covered only by a jump rope. As they approached the security check area, my friend’s cousin distanced herself from the group with the bag, knowing she was about to be caught and possibly arrested. The group prayed hard that God would make a miracle happen, because the current situation was looking grim. As security opened the bag, they asked her, “What is this?” From the bag they removed her jump rope looking intently at it and calling more security over to inspect it. She quickly responds by simply starting to jump-rope in the middle of the airport explaining that it is a form of exercise. After doing this for a few minutes, a large crowd had gathered marveling at what she was doing. Eventually security let the entire group go without checking the rest of their bags.
I was completely amazed by this story. It simply was a one in a million miracle that had happened. How could something so simple completely distract security to such a great extent? There is man named Paul in the Bible that has experienced God move in many powerful and interesting ways. At one point he writes a letter to the church in Corinth telling them about one of these times. He wrote,
“God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considered important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, NLT.
God used a jump-rope to hide the Bibles that were in plain sight. Something as simple and non-important as a jump-rope saved missionaries from being thrown in prison and enabled the Gospel to be spread. No matter how small, insignificant, or powerless we may feel; God is willing to use us. In fact, it is these things that God has used to move mountains. People came to know Christ because He used a jump-rope. How much more can He do with us?
Simply,
Tex G.M. Rule
"As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God." 1 Corinthians 1:29, NLT.
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