God's mission accomplished

In normal civilian life they were good. When Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) got them into a room together they were magic:

Willy Armitage (world-class weight lifter); Rollin Hand (make-up and escape artist extraordinaire); Cinnamon Carter (smart and stunning actress and fashion model); Barry Collier (electrical whiz and mechanical genius). Together they eviscerated evil organizations for some nameless, top-secret branch of the U.S. government.

It was intoxicating, and now I know why: it's Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Peter 2:4,5 in action. It was life as good as it gets.

How beautiful it is when the brothers and sisters know their gifts and pitch them all into the pot. Beautiful when they "stir up one another" to be the best they can be, "encouraging one another daily" (Hebrews 10:24,25), and getting a kick out of each other's gifts. There's no competing because everybody knows what he's good at and what he's not. Everybody knows he's useful.

There are all kinds of quirky gifts that don't find their way onto the classical Bible lists. There's a woman I know who never forgets to commend a restaurant when the service is excellent; she notices if the MacDonald's bathroom is exceptionally clean, and tells the manager. I know a woman who is uncanny at walking into a crowded party and seeing who is lonely or afraid.