PAPERCLIPS

On my desk sits a bucket of 500 (minus a dozen or so) multi-colored paperclips that constantly remind me of my spiritual mission here at West Point: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Paperclips are quite possibly the best tool in a disciple-makers handbag because they are malleable, marketable, and manageable. You can twist them in and out of shape and use them for marking a place in a Bible, attaching two pages of your study together or for poking yourself in the chin if you fall asleep during a quiet time. They are easy to find, easy to distribute, and easy to lose, if you don’t remind yourself to use them.

Paul wrote, “Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us” (Phil 3.17). The paperclips in my Bible are from the same bucket of clips that I share with those cadets interested in reading God’s word just like me. I tell them that we are running a race at a different pace than those around us and in order to ensure that we do not fall out, we need to hold each other accountable by finding commonalities to bind us together, like two pages paperclipped one to the other. And so I show them my sword, give them three clips to sheathe their spots, and ask them to follow a pattern—one that will inevitably become their own.

It is my mission to part with all 500 paperclips in order to unite myself together with those willing to bind themselves to Christ. But I can’t do it alone. I need to find Christians willing to paperclip themselves to others by joining us on this run. Will you “join in imitating me” by passing on paperclips, teaching others to know Jesus through His Word?