Ephesians 6:15 “and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” NIV

I have been delivering the news for a long time now. For the last 5 and a half years I have compiled, edited and published The Whisper, our local town paper but it all began with my first job at the age of 12. My brother and our next door neighbour both had paper routes and when they wanted to do something else, they would get me to pick up the papers and deliver them. Pretty soon both boys found that this arrangement suited them quite well and I became the regular paper girl.

Up and down our mile long stretch of highway I would walk to individual homes and apartment buildings, first one side of the road and then the other. One particular place was situated high up on a hill with a long curving driveway that wound through a small creepy forest of trees. This trek was especially wearisome on cold snowy days or hot humid one. Never-the-less I delivered the news to this home just as I did to all the others.

As an adult I experienced the call into ministry and began delivering the news once again, the Good News of Jesus Christ through both the spoken and the written word, which is something I want to continue to do for as many days as the Lord ordains for me.

The news is important. People need the opportunity to know and experience what is happening and going on in their communities and the world. But the Good News is even more valuable for as the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans so many years ago:

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:13-15 NIV

So today may we, as God’s people, have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace that we might be prepared through the grace of our speech and deeds to continue to carry the Good News of God’s love through Christ Jesus to all those we meet.

Prayer: Father God thank you for the blessing and opportunity of being bearers of the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world we live in. Grant us power and grace to carry this news by way of word or deed to each and everyone we meet today. In Christ’s name we ask. Amen.

Lynne Phipps
Atlin, B.C.