by J. Randal Matheny

I had my Sunday all planned out. We had gotten to Brazil early Friday morning. Our son Micah arrived by bus from another city at 6:30 a.m. Saturday to spend a few days at home. No extra sleep that day. Sunday, we had to rise early for church. No sleeping late then, either.

So the plan was to meet with the brethren in Sao Jose dos Campos in the morning, eat lunch and then rest some in the afternoon before heading off to the new congregation in Taubate, 40 minutes away from us.

Until I walked in the auditorium yesterday morning and saw the note on the white board. Door-to-door canvassing in the afternoon to offer a Bible correspondence course.

Hmmm, do I knock doors, or do I sleep?

I was leaning toward the latter until the Bible reading and sermon text. This verse made me sit up straight:

"Jacob's well was there [in Sychar], and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon" (John 4:6, NRSV).

We know what follows. Jesus brings good news to a Samaritan woman and the entire city of Sychar.

Like anyone else, Jesus felt the normal wear and tear of being human. He got hungry and thirsty. He got tired. He felt heat and cold, frustration and elation. As far as his humanity was concerned, he was a normal guy.

But he was above normal because, even in the heat of the day and beyond the hunger of the stomach, he could still consider the needs of others and offer them what they needed most. In his privation, he made others abound.

If Jesus did it, could I be content to sleep and let others work? Would I be just normal, and let my tired body keep me from bringing the Good News to someone in need?

My willing spirit was still wrestling with my weak flesh when someone announced that the canvassing had been postponed. I was saved from the choice.

But perhaps I still need to be faced with my tiredness, my poverty, my lack of optimal conditions, and the continuing need to offer the water of life.

I'm still pondering that one.