If all of Paul’s travels were to be marked on a world map with a red marker, it would look like a massive ball of red yarn that would almost completely obscure the map in many places. Paul was constantly on the move to convince Jews and Gentiles alike that Jesus is the Messiah - and he wasn’t alone. Paul had a tight network of friends and allies as dedicated as he was and working as a team. The friends that catch my attention here are Aquila and Priscilla, a Jewish husband and wife deported from Rome. They met up with Paul in Corinth, lived together and worked together making tents … and Paul “preached on Sundays”.

Somehow this makes me imagine a warm friendship between these three. Tent-making, like quilting or other crafts, allow for much chat while the hands are busy. That they also ate together, lived in the same house and worshipped at the same place every Sabbath indicates they really came to know each other’s hearts. They were fully united in their devotion to preaching Jesus as the Messiah.

Over the next several years, the preaching continued and the church grew. Paul went from “preaching on Sundays” to preaching every day. When Paul set sail to Syria to continue spreading the gospel, he took along none other than Aquila and Priscilla, the couple he had come to know so well during his days of tent-making. Like a chain of links, Paul connected to Aquila, who was connected to Priscilla, and then Apollo enters the picture.

A powerful speaker, Apollo knew about John’s baptism but not the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. It was Priscilla and Aquila, two links in the chain to Paul, who connected with him to impart all the truth they had learned. After this, Apollo “proved to be of great benefit to those who, by God’s grace, had believed.”

None of us are called into GO alone. Who are you connected to? Who knows you so well that you can impart the secrets of the kingdom to them, and they to you? Who are the irons that sharpen your iron so that you become more effective in the ministry God has for you?