I delivered the Detroit News for many years. My route at first was Wendell, the street on which my mother grew up, and the next street, Ferris, on which we lived. I started with 54 dailies (Mon-Sat) and 52 Sundays. One of the goals was to get more customers. The job got a little easier and a little harder when the Detroit Times folded. I got some of the customers who used to take the Times but Ferris was taken away and I was given the street on the other side of our house, Lawndale. I fought mightily to keep the street on which I lived, but Mr. Baker would have none of it.

Two things happened. For one, I had an apartment building now. People would move in and out and I found that I was consistently getting new customers. I ended up winning five trips during those years, including to New London, CT to the Coast Guard academy and Cleveland, Chicago, a dude ranch and the Tigers’ training camp in Florida. What looked like a loss was a gain, since I had new territory and new customers.

The other thing that happened was that I steadily gained more customers on Wendell as well. Sometimes we would get free samples. A couple times I had all but two houses on the whole street. The only time my mission on Wendell was complete was when I was delivering everyone the paper. I eventually had about 125 dailies and 140 Sundays.

We at Emmaus have a mission. Deliver the Good News of eternal life. Find ways to tell the story. Find ways to intersect with the lives of others. Not just today’s news but eternal salvation is involved. It is part of a REALLY BIG picture of God’s love in Christ saving us from eternal death. We work together to deliver the Good News. We still have many people to reach. Some of the territory is changing, as demographics always do. We can get the joy of knowing that someone else will be on the trip of a lifetime when the Gospel really touches them. So many think they know what the church is about. But our story of grace and mercy is still needed. Let us thank the Lord for honoring us by putting us in this place at this time to do His will. Let’s see that we are still on His mission in our community. Let’s get hungry and keep hungry at doing His bidding.

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp