After Christ Jesus ascended into heaven, his first disciples realized they needed to fill the complement of apostles chosen by Jesus to carry on his ministry in the world, someone who ”accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us,--one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.: And so it began!

They couldn’t foresee what the world would be like for us 2000 years later, but their recognition of the power of first-hand witnesses to proclaim the good news of God’s hand at work in the world got Christianity off to a good start. God continues to call us today, just as he did Mathias, to testify to God’s grace in our lives, to share with others how we experience the Lord’s presence in good times and bad. Two weeks ago, on Mother’s Day, I was visiting my Mother in Tennessee. In her Sunday School class that morning, a woman who works with children in need related how, in this economic climate, funds for their usual summer programs had dried up, and there was nothing she could do for her clients. Then during that week, funds appeared, first from one unlikely place and then another. She was overjoyed for the children and awestruck as she perceived the hand of God providing what was needed. A wonderful testimony from a first-hand witness!

I hope she will find it easy to share her witness with others who need to hear her story, who are unaware of how God makes his presence felt in our world today. I trust the Lord to provide the opportunity for her when the time is right, when the audience is prepared to hear. It is easy to share our experience of God when we know we’re preaching to the choir, but it takes courage to testify in an unknown venue. I read a quote somewhere yesterday (that, of course, I can not find today for verification and attribution) to the effect that “I’d rather walk naked through the city than to [witness to my experience of God.]” Most of us can relate to that fear of vulnerability, but we can trust the Lord to strengthen us for the witness when our testimony is called for because we know from our entire salvation history that God equips those whom he calls.