27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Acts 9:27-30

We all need a Barnabus in our lives, someone who will vouch for us, walk us through “dangerous waters,” and just be a friend. We don’t know a lot about Barnabus until now, but he was in good standing with the disciples. They trusted Barnabus enough to welcome Saul into the fold. It may have taken weeks or months of trust-building under different circumstances. The disciples were strong enough on their own that they could have even denied Saul fellowship with them.

And what makes it really interesting is that Barnabus probably didn’t know Saul all that well either. Barnabus took a risk in introducing Saul to the disciples. Through the years, though, Barnabus of the New Testament is synonymous with Saul (or Paul as he’s called later).

So where do we find these Barnabuses? We don’t. They find us. It’s often a very natural thing. You pray to find a Barnabus, and when he/she shows up, you know it fairly quickly.