As hard as it is to admit in our egalitarian world, where we like to think all things are fair, most of us have favorites. Which apostle do you most admire? Which prophet? Which Old Testament patriarch?

It’s hard for me to think of how to answer that question.

But there are a lot of people in the Bible, more or less ordinary people who, by God’s generous hand, found their lives intersecting with him, the God of the universe, but we don’t name our kids after them. Those humble people are like featured actors in a single episode of an epic movie or long television series. The story isn’t about them, but they play a small and important part in the drama.

I think that’s where most of us are in our Christian life.

One of my favorite people in this category is Eutychus.

The church was just getting started in Troas, and Eutychus clearly loved being a part of it. Being started by an Apostle probably didn’t hurt the church, though maybe it brought them a little more attention than some would have thought necessary. Eutychus loved church and, he definitely did not want to say goodbye to Paul. He wasn’t the only one. None of the church did. Paul was the dad of the church, and it was as though he was leaving them and going off to war.

In Acts 20, Eutychus probably knew that this might very well be the last time he would ever get to hear Paul preach or to see him face-to-face. It was goodbye for now, but for young Eutychus, this “now” could prove to be a very long time.

You wouldn’t skip evening service if that was what was going on, would you? Or maybe we are such creatures of habit that we would stay home.

Paul was happy to go on preaching that night, and everyone was happy to keep listening. It went on, longer than a Mahler symphony or a multi-act play with one too many soliloquies, and no matter how much Eutychus wanted to stay awake, soaking in every word, he just couldn’t keep those eyelids from going down.

The thing about falling asleep, which is what Eutychus did after midnight when Paul was still going strong, is that it’s probably not a good idea to sit by an open window, a second-story window at that.

Though some might consider falling asleep in church a sin, I do have a good amount of empathy for him. You could call Eutychus my new best friend. We have a lot in common.

Speaking as someone who has fallen asleep midsentence in a discussion with my wife, during sermons, at prayer meetings, small group gatherings, Bible studies—some of which I have been in charge even while nodding off—well, it doesn’t really matter when you’re tired because your body does what it does, I do have to say that he is an admirable fellow. He’s not Daniel or Nehemiah or David or Peter, no. He’s a minor character, but a good guy nonetheless.

The really beautiful thing is not what he does, but how God uses it. There is not resurrection without death, and in this case, there is not death without falling asleep.

It was all so matter of fact. He was dead and then he comes back to life. Then the church has a meal and stays up all night.

You don’t have to be a major player for God to do a major work in you or in others through you. And God didn’t hold falling asleep against Eutychus. He used him to tell an important part of the best story in all of history: this new thing, the church and its followers, ushering into the world something it had never before seen. If he had lived a more balanced life, staying away because he was tired or slipping out early to get home and get some rest, he would have missed out.

Not-so-amazing people like Eutychus or you or me really do matter.

We aren’t the stars of the show, but God has made us translucent. Light shines through us. If we are faithful, if we show up, the light will shine. People will notice. So even if you’re tired, go. Take the risk of falling asleep. Sometimes God does something unexpected that you won’t want to miss.

I’m not the only one who likes Eutychus. God does, too.

What happens to Eutychus stands in sharp contrast with what happens to two other players in the story of the early church—Ananias and Sapphira (A&S). Eutychus experiences resurrection after falling asleep and out of the second story window, dead. A&S are killed for what some modern people might think was a shrewd act of both generosity and deception—the ability to give to appear like people they aren’t and, in tricking other people, trick themselves into thinking they can deceive God. So, A&S lie and die, but though Eutychus dies, he lives.