Ordinary to Extraordinary Steps

August 3, 2023 | Read Time: 1 min

By: Rev. Mark Sorensen

I was going through some photos from our trip to Greece a few short months ago. What a blessing it was to retrace the footsteps of Paul and learn more of his travels and his sharing of the Good News of Jesus.

One of the stops along the way that I loved was in the ancient city of Berea, in northern Greece. Having just left the city of Thessalonica, Paul and Silas headed to Berea and made a stop in a Jewish synagogue. As Paul would do in all the cities he would travel to, he often would look for opportunities to tell people about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the picture above, you may be able to see (just over my right hand) three stone steps in the background between the two mosaics. Those are the very steps from the synagogue that the Apostle Paul would have stood on to preach God’s word to those who would listen. Acts said of those in the synagogue that day that they “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed.” (Acts 17:11-12)

It’s funny. Those steps were pretty ordinary. There wasn’t anything really extravagant about them. What was extraordinary was the message of Jesus that was declared from those steps. And what followed? People listened and responded to that good news.

I wonder, where are the steps we might choose to take today to tell someone the Good News of Jesus? Here’s what I know to be true: I am where I am today because someone took the opportunity to share Jesus with me.

Approach the day with a holy anticipation that what might be an ordinary day to someone waking up could be the extraordinary day when they find that the God of the universe loved them enough to step into the world and show them love through Jesus Christ.

Take those steps. There’s good news that needs to be shared!

— Mark