Monday, June 29, 1998
Monday, June 29, 1998
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The sign on the stage proclaimed, "The Motionless Man: Make Him Laugh. Win $100." The
temptation was irresistible. For three hours boys and girls, men and women performed every antic
and told every joke they could dream up. But Bill Fuqua, the Motionless Man, stood perfectly
still.
Luis Palau in his book HEALTHY HABITS FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH, tells about Fuqua, the
GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS champion at doing nothing. Fuqua, says Palau,
appears so motionless during his routines at shopping malls and amusement parks that he's
sometimes mistaken for a mannequin.
Fuqua discovered his unique talent at the age of fourteen while standing motionless in front of a
Christmas tree as a joke. A woman touched him and exclaimed, "Oh, I thought it was a real
person."
Doing nothing is really impossible--even for the Motionless Man. Fuqua attributes his feigned
paralysis to hyper elastic skin, an extremely low pulse rate, and intense concentration. He may not
laugh at your jokes, but he readily admits that he still has to breathe and blink--occasionally.
When I read about Bill Fuqua, the motionless man, and I thought about so many churches. So
many congregations have mastered the art of doing nothing. We read about the church on the Day
of Pentecost--the flames of fire, the sound of a mighty wind, the strange excitement that catches
the attention of passers by. This is not the church as we know it! The church on the Day of
Pentecost was a church that was chaotic and yet caring, tightly joined as a group, yet reaching out
with extraordinary vigor. It was a church ablaze with the Holy Spirit.
How about us? Are we ablaze with the Holy Spirit?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, set my heart on fire in doing your work. Amen.
Ronald Newhouse, Texas, USA
(Acts 2:4
NRSV)