Sometimes great communicators get too caught up in their speech. Or do they?

The apostle Paul, and his entourage, were in an area of modern day Turkey. They had been there for about a week when all the people of the church got together.

Paul was leaving in the morning. This was his last chance to talk with this group.

The people gathered around, eager to hear what the distinguished apostle had to say. They were sitting everywhere – on the floor, in the aisles, in the windows in the lofts. These lofts extended – not just one story or even two stories – they extended three stories above the floor where Paul spoke.

The place was packed. You could feel the excitement in the room as Paul got up to give his speech.

And he talked … and he talked … and he talked.

The sun began to set. They lit candles.

And Paul talked … and talked … and talked.

Candles burned up. New candles were lit.

And Paul talked … and talked … and talked.

Older people in the group, not used to staying up this late, started nodding off.

And Paul talked … and talked … and talked.

Midnight came and went.

And Paul talked … and talked … and talked.

A young man, Eutychus, was sitting in a window in a loft up above. He fell into a deep sleep.

You know how it goes. You fall asleep while sitting up. Your head falls down to your chest. You slump over. Unfortunately for Eutychus, he was sitting in a window in the third-floor loft.

As his head hit his chest and his body relaxed, Eutychus came tumbling down.

Picture yourself sitting in the crowd. You catch a glimpse of a shadow as something enters into your visual point-of-reference. It’s falling quickly and then comes to an abrupt stop.

As Eutychus smacked into the floor beneath him, people in the crowd jumped out of shock. Then they cried out. They checked him. Even Luke, the physician in Paul’s group, said he was dead.

Paul came running over, alarmed at this occurrence. He fell on the young man, apparently full of grief.

He got up and announced to the crowd that the young man was still alive.

Eutychus didn’t show any signs of life. But that didn’t deter Paul. He went back up in front of the crowd.

And talked … and talked … and talked.  

He talked until dawn before departing. And Eutychus woke up to the delight of the people.

Great communicators know that there is no standard for the length of your communication. If people appear to be dying, you may have talked too long. Or, you may need to keep talking to get people to come to life.

Image in this post from salvationandprophecy.com