When comedy actors Adam Sandler or Rob Schneider feature in a movie, you can count on the fact that somewhere in the film, the other actor will make a brief cameo appearance and shout out from the middle of a crowd with a thick Spanish accent, "you can do it!" I don't know what the back-story is, but the phrase (with the accent) has entered popular culture (and can occasionally be heard in our home too!)
Do you have someone in your life cheering you on like that? It's a very powerful thing when you are under pressure in some way and you look up to see a reassuring face and hear a voice calling out, "you can do it!". That's the image that the writer to the Hebrews creates in Hebrews 11 and 12. The book lays out a long list of heroes of the faith and then describes them as "a cloud of witnesses" lined up along the streets cheering us on as we run our race. I can almost hear them shouting "you can do it" with outrageous Spanish accents :)
The unsung hero that we are meeting on Sunday would fit right into that crowd of encouragers. Barnabas' contribution to the early church often goes unnoticed, but his story intersects with the lives of a number of key church leaders and the role he played in empowering them was absolutely vital.
Can you name a Barnabas in your life? Are you being a Barnabas for someone else?
Do you have someone in your life cheering you on like that? It's a very powerful thing when you are under pressure in some way and you look up to see a reassuring face and hear a voice calling out, "you can do it!". That's the image that the writer to the Hebrews creates in Hebrews 11 and 12. The book lays out a long list of heroes of the faith and then describes them as "a cloud of witnesses" lined up along the streets cheering us on as we run our race. I can almost hear them shouting "you can do it" with outrageous Spanish accents :)
The unsung hero that we are meeting on Sunday would fit right into that crowd of encouragers. Barnabas' contribution to the early church often goes unnoticed, but his story intersects with the lives of a number of key church leaders and the role he played in empowering them was absolutely vital.
Can you name a Barnabas in your life? Are you being a Barnabas for someone else?