Over the past few years, Adventure Catholic has started to become much more well-known. With the publishing of two books, with others on the way, and the attention we have been receiving on TV and Radio shows throughout the country, we have been getting noticed quite a bit! We received countless letters, emails, and phone calls from parents telling us how Adventure Catholic has changed their child’s life and improved their relationship with their son or daughter.
The one and only response we give to this admiration is, “It’s not us, we didn’t do anything! All the glory for this and anything else goes to God. We are only here to reflect God’s light.” And we mean this whole heartedly. Without God, nothing we are teaching is possible. We are not sharing our words; instead we are reflecting God’s Word. It is important and necessary to understand the difference between these two perspectives.
As humans, we don’t have any light of our own. We are only here to reflect God’s Word and use our talents to do so. So when someone comes up to us after a speaking engagement and asks for autographs, or photos, it is always a bit strange. I can imagine the Apostles being faced with much the same reaction from people as they traveled. Many people must have come up to them to admire “their” greatness. Paul actually experiences this in Acts 14:15 when people try to offer sacrifice to him. Paul rebukes the people and says, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the Heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”
I’m sure there must be great temptation for people to take credit for something God has done, but it must be avoided at all costs. There is nothing we can do on our own to bring anyone on earth any closer to God. All of the success we have experienced is because of God, but in spite of Him. It is of the utmost importance to remember that we are a tool for God to use to spread His Word. That is why we should never fear when we talk about God. Who can cause God to have fear? The God who created the universe and everything in it has no one and nothing to fear, so when we speak about God, it is always fearless since it is Him speaking through us.
A great image that comes to mind is the moon. The moon has no light of its own, it only reflects light from the sun. As teachers of the faith, we must do the same thing and be like the moon. We are only here to reflect the Son!
