 |
| each blue line on the calendar represents a team of visiting workers |
The days are long, our sheet folding muscles get sore, the stores run out of bread, the trucks need repairs, the place that we were sending a team of workers has a schedule change, the grill runs out of gas halfway through a batch of 250 chicken legs, the water goes out, the power goes out, the water's still out, drivers get sick, toilets are always clogged, somebody has a special dietary requirement they just remembered in the middle of supper, the construction crew realizes they forgot necessary materials after driving all the way to the job site, personalities conflict, and Oh yeah, the whole department will be on vacation the same week you have 94 visiting workers in town.
It is so easy among all the busyness for me to get focused on putting out the fires in front of me, that I can forget why we are doing these things at all. It's easy for me to forget that we are not just here to feed, house, and occupy a building full of visitors. We're not here just to provide an eye-opening experience to some teenagers, or refresh the stale spirits of some overworked ministry leaders. We're not just here to distribute food or t-shirts or bouncy balls.
We are part of a powerful force. We are part of the body of Christ himself. We have the opportunity to accompany Him in the work He is doing in our world, and even take part with Him.
I often forget what an honor that is.
Habakkuk 3:2
Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known
Psalm 90:16-17
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
I think this is easy for me to lose sight of, because most of the time when I am "serving God" it doesn't look like a Bible Story poster. God's never asked me to raise my hand across a sea while He parts the water, or gather up baskets of leftover food from one guy's lunch. No...being a part of the work God is doing is mostly getting up while it is still dark to bake 240 muffins, putting away the stuff that gets left out, wiping up spills, tracking down extra pillows, sharpening colored pencils, being a listener.
It's easy for me to lose sight of the fact that I am a part of something mighty--because my human eyes aren't good at seeing "parts". Deep down, I don't want to "be a part of something". I want to be the whole something. I want to plant the seed, see it leap to life right before my eyes and pick the fruit while the mud of planting is still fresh on my hands.
Don't you?
Someone from one of the recent visiting groups was reflecting on their day. He had just seen a deeper side of poverty than he had known, and was struggling with his inability to share his hope in Christ as fully as he'd have liked to.
I know that frustration only too well.
This was the only answer I could give him: We are like tuna fisherman.
*click the link and check out this one minute video*
**I don't like videos either, but it's like one single minute, it will be worth it, honest**
Leave aside any politics of commercial fishing--these men understand that they are part of a body. Not only does each worker do the job assigned to him, there is an implicit trust that everyone else is going to do their part as well. None of the guys on the poles turn their heads to see what becomes of the fish they hook, they trust the rest of the body to collect their catch and care for it appropriately.
And that's what "the busy season" has really been about. Serving soup, dispensing glasses, presenting Bible lessons, playing basketball, visiting the sick, making blocks, reading books, distributing bibles, sharing a pocket full of candies--as these crowds of visitors come and drop a line into the water, we position ourselves to be ready in the coming months to rightly handle the catch.
And whether you get to be the one who raises your staff across the suddenly parting sea, the one who in faith walks out into that impossibly dry road, or the one who recounts the story to your children generations later--we are all participating in the mighty works of His hands.
Luke 7:22
So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
