Send me your people

https://odb.org/2025/12/22/send-me-your-people

1 Corinthians 12:12–20 (NIV): 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

When my friend Maritza took a job that required traveling to many different cities by herself, she often felt lonely. But over dinner one night, she leaned in and told me, “Jen, I prayed and asked God to send me His people.” She went on to say it wasn’t long before she’d begun to meet other believers in Jesus on a regular basis. Once, she met three in one day!

When we encounter others who have faith in Jesus, we share a spiritual connection. In a hard-to-explain way, this lights a spark within us. We have the most important thing in common because we believe what the Bible says about Christ and how it’s possible to have a relationship with God through Him (Romans 10:9). (Jennifer Benson Schuldt, Our Daily Bread 22nd December 2025)

I’ve never prayed like Jen’s friend, Maritza, for God to send His people to meet her when she traveled alone to multiple cities for work. There was a time in the early 2000s that I traveled a lot for work at my previous workplace but it never occurred to me to pray for the LORD to send His people my way. I was mostly alone and missed home. However, I don’t believe I have knowingly ever met a fellow believer in those business travels which I estimate numbered around 50 times! How good it would have been if I had met with a fellow believer in my travels! Somehow there would have been a connection because we both believed in the same Lord Jesus Christ and have the same Holy Spirit living in us.

As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12, we all have a connection with one another because we are all part of the same body of Christ. We all have our respective roles to play based on our God-given talents and giftings and our calling in God. Yet we are all one. We are all part of the universal body of Christ. We need to work together and function as one to be effective for Christ.

The next time we travel, pray for God to connect us with His other children in the Kingdom of God. I’m sure we will revel in the fellowship and praise Him for the time together, connecting in the Spirit as we share our testimony with one another and our role in the body of Christ!

Have a good week ahead, everyone and have a great and blessed Christmas! I’ll be working until Christmas day as I’ve exhausted my annual leave this year travelling twice to Europe, partly for a tour and at the same time to see my son in Cardiff. But I’m sure most of you are now clearing leave and can’t wait for the festivities to start! Have a good time in the Lord in fellowship with one another!