Word Thirst

His eyes drifted shut.

He blinked furiously. Must. Stay. Awake.

Dull light flickered from the lamps in a lazy dance that lulled him deeper and deeper into a trance-like state. It was after midnight, and Paul continued to talk and talk and talk. He desperately wanted to hear what Paul was preaching. He wanted to know God.

An ache formed in his hip and back from trying to balance on the windowsil.

His eyes slide shut again. Maybe if he kept his eyes shut for a few minutes, that stinging feeling from trying to hold them open would go away. Then he would be able to focus.

Just a few more minutes...

Based on Acts 20:7-9

"On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead." Acts 20:7-9

Paul was a talker. And let's be honest. He was gabbing away here, and while he was droning on and on, people were getting tired. It was past midnight. They were exhausted, and the dim lighting from lamps wasn't helping.

But they stayed.

And a young man named Eutychus was so devoted to hearing this message, that he didn't leave even though he was dead tired - excuse the pun.

Is our thirst for God so strong that we wouldn't, couldn't leave even though we could be watching TV, hanging out with friends, checking things off our to-do list, or sleeping? (As a mom of a baby on a sleep strike, I don't underestimate the severe, deperate need for sleep.) Does our thirst for God outweigh all other things?

I know that I want my thirst for the Word of God to be stronger than anything else in this life. I, we should want to be like all those people - Eutychus included - who stayed.

V. Joy Palmer