A Drop in the Bucket …
… is, in a way, what it feels like having finished only three houses when we look around at the immensity of the work that the Body of Christ still has to do in the world, and in Ensenada. But then, at the end of the day today, after cleaning brushes, mud pans, taping knives, and sorting tools in order to get ready to leave one of the sites that had become so familiar over the past week, we lingered a bit before gathering to pray. And as we did, two of the guys came carrying a refrigerator up the newly built stairs and stoop into the freshly painted home - with a kitchen stove soon to follow. On another site bunk-beds were built and mattresses laid in them; and at yet another, shelves were installed and housewarming gifts showered upon the family.
It was then that it began to hit each one of us: another week of our lives had flashed before our eyes. But in so many ways this had truly been a week like absolutely no other. Suddenly - as teams gathered out front of the finished homes to hold hands with each other and with the families to pray for them - every small thing God had collectively done through us no longer seemed like a drop in the bucket of insurmountable needs. Instead, it was crystal clear that we had planted powerful seeds in the richly fertile soil of many hearts, and that our faithful God would not only send others after us to continue to water those seeds - He Himself would be the very source of Power and Light that would generate and sustain the growth of those seeds.
Here’s a question: If you knew, for an absolute certainty, that a small seed of eternally sustained Life could be planted in someone’s heart because of a few short days of help on your part, would you make the sacrifice? A small thing to ask considering all that we’ve been given. But if you say yes, that you absolutely would, then when? At least for all of us, to hold the tender hands of those receiving their new homes, and to peer into their tear filled eyes, we know without a doubt that the time is now. It is simply always now. And after a week such as this, that is how we will live our lives from here on out - offering our ordinary everyday lives to Jesus in such a way that it will demand an explanation.
A drop in the bucket? For some, it may seem so. But not for our God. With Him, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.
