The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-07-19
; SPARKS FROM AN :
OAKLAND PULPIT >
WHILE WAITING
Acts 1916: while Paul Waited for
them at Athens"

st. Paul was waiting for Silas and
Timothy, his co-workers, to join him
that he might renew his great evan
gelistic campaign in new fields. He
was waiting for them at Athens, as
you and l often wait at an appointed
place for friends whom we have
agreed to meet.
Life is full of Interruptions, delays,
unforeseen emergencies, and a por-
ton of every day must be spent in
waiting for someone or something
without whom or which we cannot
continue our planned activities.
What do we do while waiting? We
try to kill time" as we say. The
hours weigh heavily upon US and we
seek some distraction which will make
them slip by as quickly as possible.
Waiting is a miserable occupation,
and happy he who can kill time with
the most murderous weapons.
But how did St. Paul while away
the heavy hours at Athens where he
was waiting for Silas and Timothy?
He did not kill time. He made time
live! He gathered up the scraps of
time that you and l would have thrown
away as of no consequence and wove
them into a fabric that is one of the
priceless heritages Of the Christian
Church. He filled those spare mo-
ments so full of wisdom and light and
power that they stand out among the
most important moments of the
worlds history. And the words that
he spoke that day about the God in
whom we live and move and have our
being did not fall only upon the ears
of the idle philosophers Of the Areo-
pagus but have echoed in the minds
of uncounted multitudes during nine
teen centuries.
Paul was one of those obstinate
persons who insist upon turning every
handicap into an advantage, every
stumbling block into stepping stone,
every enforced delay into a shortcut
to his goal. When he was thrown into
Jail at Philippi to prevent his preach
ing the Gospel, he made the stocks
his pulpit, the prison his auditorium.
"At midnight, Paul and Silas were
praying and singing hymns unto God,
and the prisoners were listening to
them" Acts 1925. There is reason
to believe that ST. PauPs Most effec
tive missionary work in Philippi was
done while waiting for his release.
That was not the only imprison-
ment suffered by the great Apostle.
But he always adapted himself to
changed circumstances. In the clos
ing of one door of opportunity ne dis
covered the opening of another. For
hidden to preach the Gospel by word
of mouth he continues to preach by
the written word. From prison he
writes his great epistles into which
he lavishly pours the riches of his
maturest spiritual insight. st. Paul
rendered no greater service to the
Christian Church than as "the prls-
oner of the Lord" when it seemed to
him that he had finished his course,
and while he was waiting for the an
gel of death and the "crown of right
eousness."
What is true of st. Paul is true of
all the great men and women of his
tory. Their achievements may be in
no small measure attributed to their
thrifty use of that most priceless of
possessions-time. We may take Ma
polean as type for all, whose slogan
was, 'Not moment must be lost"
whose heraldic emblem was the bee,
who planned an entire military cam
paign while waiting between the acts
at the theatre and who won many a
victory by the simple device of get
ting there half an hour before the OPP
posing general woke up.
In this sense, we all may be great,
hating each transient hour and COM
polling it to pay tribute of deeper