we have SUCH tough lives

Here's what the life of Paul, the apostle was like - remember he wrote a BIG chunk of the New Testament - and it is said that he was the greatest missionary ever.


We Christians here in America are so pissy & precious about how persecuted we are...

    ...when the most persecuted most of us experience is that our lattes aren't as hot as we like them as we sit in the drive thru @ Starbuck's in our fuel inefficient SUV's belching exhaust contributing to the greenhouse effect of our atmosphere.


If Paul were alive today & experienced that kind of stuff, our success orientation toward servanthood would lead us to think he was obviously not doing things right to engender such treatment & just needed to read more John Maxwell books on leadership &/or soak up the latest sermon by Joel Osteen.


Who among us would still be a Christian if we had experienced just ONE of the things Paul lists here?

     ...not many of us, I'm afraid...



2 Corinthians 11
24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned. (dan note: ...and he was left for dead)

Three times I was shipwrecked.

Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.

26 I have traveled on many long journeys.

I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers.

I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles.

I have faced danger in the cities,

     in the deserts,

     and on the seas.

And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.

27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights.

I have been hungry

     and thirsty

     and have often gone without food.

I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.


28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.

29 Who is weak without my feeling that weakness?

Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?
 

30 If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.

31 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who is worthy of eternal praise, knows I am not lying.

32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the city gates to catch me.

        33 I had to be lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall to escape from him.