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I’ve been under the weather for most of the past three days. I’m slowly coming out of it, but I still feel pretty puny. When I’m sick like this, my mind always wonders to the things I need to be doing, like right now. I’m always thinking and when there’s nothing else to do, my mind is racing. I’m thinking, writing things down, visioneering. I’m thinking about the future of my marriage, my family, and my church.

It makes me think about the apostle Paul. From what I can gather from the Bible, Paul lived a fast-forward life. He was always on the move. He covered northwestern Asia, much of southeastern Europe, and possibly even western Europe. And, by the way, he did all of this on foot, walking 100s of miles, preaching and teaching as much and as often as he could.

Nevertheless, those feats were probably not Paul’s greatest accomplishments for the church of Jesus Christ. In my opinion, perhaps his greatest contribution to the church today were his bad days. See, Paul had some bad, bad days. He talks about being flogged several times, going hungry, going naked, being ship-wrecked. And to wrap that all up he spent much of the latter years of his life locked up in holes the Romans called jails.

Why did God let this happen to Paul? Wasn’t Paul much more valuable out in the field, sharing Jesus and teaching disciples? Couldn’t he accomplish more for the cause of Christ if God had allowed him to move into northern Europe? But no, in God’s infinite, indescribable wisdom, he had Paul spent most of his last days in prison.

Why?

Because when Paul didn’t have anything else to do, locked up deep within Roman prisons, he wrote. He wrote letters to his friends Timothy, Philemon, and Titus. He wrote letters to the churches in the cities of Rome and Corinth. He wrote letters to the churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Ephesus, and Colossae. To put it simply, Paul wrote 1/2 of the New Testament that we have today. God used that “down time” Paul had to record the great truths we now have in the Bible.

So how does this relate to my being sick and locked up in the house? There’s no time wasted. God is still at work. And it may be the most profound work of God taking place when we’re at a position of weakness. It may be that while I’m unable to get out there and do the busy work that God is about to show me more of Himself and His vision for LifePointe.

So, the next time you find yourself unable to get more than 10 feet from the bathroom, just remember, God knows your there and He may just start to speak.