All Things

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me--St. Paul from his letter to the Phillipians

 

I am sitting in an Internet cafe in Alexandroupolis, Greece. This place is buzzing with young Greeks playing video games and surfing the net. Some things are the same all over. The music in here sounds like techno pop. The atmosphere is electric with laughter, sounds of elation, and anguish, all because of video games. It is pouring down rain here by the Aegean Sea. Tomorrow we travel to Phillipi. It will be a place of ruins and memories, a place once electric with life and living. St. Paul spent time there, and he wrote to them in one of the most amazing letters in scripture. He wrote to them from a prison cell, remembering their faith and love, and still, he was doing all he could to encourage them to keep living their lives for Jesus. Suffering seemed to only make Paul more positive and determined. In the midst of knowing soon he would die, he wrote, "I can do all things..". "All things" had nothing to do with success as we know it or think of it in a materialistic way. It had nothing to do with personal dreams. It had to do with union with God through our Beloved Jesus and fighting the good fight. Where is this faith among us today? Is it here in this Internet cafe? Do these young Greeks know that Jesus loves them and that He will strengthen them to even die for Him if He called them to?, to live for Him in this time of attachment the shallow things?  Do we know this passion and confidence in the face of our sorrows, fears, and frustrations? We can, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still calling all of us to this confidence, let us hope against hope. Through Him, St. Paul will always remind us, that we can do all things.

 

wkm

Alexandroupolis Greece