“… we meet the right sort, this-will- work. We get some, buckaroo…”
– Captain Marco Ramius, from HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

We are Christian missionaries. Anyone that claims the name of Jesus must be. We have a duty to be “lamps” and “cities”. Some of us go far away from home, some minister right in our hometown. No matter which you will often find yourself trying to cooperate with some other human being full of their own ideas and ideals. This process of cooperating can be a drag. Sometimes you find enemies in the process, sometimes you just find some philosophy different from your own. Has it ever worked perfectly? When it does work it comes with compromise. When it doesn’t it often means the required compromise was too great. The parties were too inflexible. Oh it could mean anything really.

It’s easy to become cynical in this process. Somewhere down deep inside you know that no matter what reasons or “facts” are presented you are wrestling with human will, not impossibilities. Just as Ramius says above, if “we meet the right sort, this-will-work.”

As Jesus challenges us to truly Love our enemies I am reminded that there are two roles that are played in this scenario. There is the one asking and the one answering. The one who is pursuing some idea, ideal, or philosophy requires something of the other. The other must be of the “right sort” for things to work, otherwise … well as Ramius says “I give us one chance in three.”

So having been stymied time and again by a lot of human will and a little bit of truth twisted in to reinforce that will I realized that I’ve really only been focused on one side of the equation. How often have I been the other side? I haven’t even noticed it. Of course not, that was when I had my will done. I held the cards. I likely stomped the other person into the mud and never looked back. Have I been the “right sort”? Most likely not. If I haven’t been then why should I be so cynical of the others like me I have met?

Lord help me be the “right sort”. The kind who can see beyond my own ego and can take part in the accomplishments of others. Let Jesus and the true church become greater, let me become less. Someday I may learn to Love my enemy as you have commanded me, today would you please help me to learn to Love at all!

“whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” – Mark 10:44