JACK'S OLD SUITCASE

Well traveled, battered and old, the suitcase sits in my closet.

When I travel on business I like to take that well worn suitcase with me. It used to belong to a friend of mine, a world traveler who took it on Gideon assignments for many years. He died in 1984, and his widow gave it to me when I prepared to leave for Argentina and Chile in 1991.

I have packed and unpacked it many times since then. No one would steal that old suitcase from an airport baggage carousel. It's not the suitcase of a tourist or a "vacationer." But it's sturdy, it's faithful. It has proven faithful through the years, and it is still ready for action.

I know that the "jug" of the 7th chapter of the Book of Judges is the emblem of Gideons International, but if that old "jug" were ever retired and replaced, I would vote to use an old battered suitcase as the logo. Have you ever stopped to count the number of Gideons who are traveling on any one weekend? There are hundreds - all on the road with their suitcases, checking into hotels and motels all over the world, every day of the year. That is why I keep that old suitcase.

If that old suitcase could speak it would talk of countless taxi cabs, trains, airports, and buses. It would tell of being packed and unpacked; of being kicked and dropped and thrown. It would testify to snow storms, hurricanes, blizzards, and heat waves. Suitcases are the travelers survival kit. Socks, shirts, underwear, suspenders, neckties, shaving kit; you are carrying your creature comforts with you as you travel from post to post. Some of our brethren have also packed water, toilet paper, chewing gum, candy bars, and other "essentials" as they headed into the hinterlands where the nearest restaurant or doctor may be hundreds of miles away. Those old suitcases would tell of eavesdropping on conversations between Gideons and hotel clerks, cleaning ladies, taxi-cab drivers and others who were being led to place their trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those suitcases were watching when their owners dropped to their knees in their hotel rooms and asked the God of the Universe to intervene in critical circumstances.

When everything seemed hopeless, those suitcases stood guard while their owners, alone in strange and foreign countries, lifted their hearts before God's throne seeking help in a time of need.

It's not a glamorous piece of luggage. In fact, it is somewhat drab. But it is a trusted companion and I look forward to its next trip.