Bill Perkins

The outdoor survivalist talking on television sported a stubby beard, worn jeans, a faded camo-shirt, and dirty hiking boots. Holding a small magnifying glass he had swiveled out of a vinyl case, and speaking out the side of his mouth he said, “If you ever need to start a fire, this is an essential tool.”

I don’t like to think I’m lazy. I mean, I don’t want to be. Yet, I seem to constantly battle it. Except when I don’t. On those days Laziness and I kick back and relax—like old friends. There are even weeks when we hang out for days at a time, going on adventures like watching TV, devouring a novel, or just sitting in my office reading the news.

It’s not the cleanliness of a person’s hands that reaches the heart of Jesus. But the desperation of the soul that reaches. It’s not the strength of the hand that stretches out, but the expectation of the person who stretches it.

One of the most memorable learning experiences of my life occurred when Professor Howard Hendricks required all of his students, including me, to come up with 25 observations from Acts 1:8. As a first year seminary student the assignment seemed impossible. After all, how much can be seen in a single verse? Yet, after hours of work, I returned to class with a smile.

I never would have stuck my nose into this business except for what I heard John Elton say during a CNN interview last week, “If Jesus Christ was alive today, I cannot see him, as the Christian person that he was and the great person that he was, saying this (gay marriage) could not happen.”