Sometimes we forget, but we should not, that little things can do a lot. Jesus said that as the salt of the earth we can and will impact all of human history. He described the church as the leaven in the loaf--small but incredibly important and powerful. Just ask Barbara (or, if you are not from Calvin, ask the church administrator or the church secretary) how much it means to have seemingly little things like answering the phone or posting the mail or editing the newsletter or whatever done regularly and conscientiously by volunteers. Or just ask the elder in charge of the buildings or the elder in charge of the grounds how essential it is to find individuals who will do small things around the church facilities--and do them faithfully. I have often said that a key to any healthy church is people involved in ministry--and I have said it knowing that much of the ministry will be anonymous and sometimes tedious. The organizational structure upon which I have based my pastoral ministry is to involve many people so that no one person has to do it all...i.e. A Ministry to Every Member and Every Member in Ministry.



That point, namely of the power of little things, was brought home forcefully to me this past week. While out on a bike ride, traveling through country lanes and past farms and subdivisions, I had an encounter with a small creature--a horse fly. The edenic state of simple joy I was experiencing was shattered by a sharp pain on my right thigh. I immediately grabbed at the spot, and screeched to a halt, hoping that I had not just been stung by a bee as I am allergic to honeybees and did not have my EpiPen with me at the time--which could have been very bad. What I did find, instead, was a rather complacent horse fly settled on the shorts I was wearing. In a moment I made sure that this particular insect would never again accost a passing cyclist, but the damage had been done. The horse fly had made a meal out of my flesh--a small meal and his (or her?) last meal, but a meal nevertheless.

Now, this seems like a small thing, and it was a small insect, but as it unfolded the small meal the small insect had consumed at my expense had a large impact. The next day much of my thigh was red and hot, and blisters began forming. At Nancy's insistence I went to an Urgent Care facility and was greeted by a doctor who said, That is very impressive! Not words I wanted to hear, but true words. An hour later, having been unceremoniously injected with two strong antibiotics, and given three prescriptions, I was sent home with the directive to, stay off the bike and take it easy for seven days.... This was particularly difficult news as I had been planning on using this next week to do some fairly serious training for my cycling adventure in Europe beginning the following week.

While I was chatting with the doctor I asked what would have happened if I had not come in for some care. She casually indicated that while the infection would probably have been combatted by the normal bodily processes (they are miraculous!), the infection was sufficiently ugly that it could have gone into the blood stream and had very serious complications...

So--a little thing can do a lot. It can be a lot of good or a lot of bad. And every little thing done for the kingdom of God counts. It pays off. It makes a difference. In fact the kingdom grows not by leaps and bounds and not primarily by the grand works of noted leaders, but by the daily ministry of God's people. Often unnoticed by anyone, but clearly seen by God...

Last night Colette (2 weeks and 4 days old) and I watched a movie together until 1 a.m. She is very good company...

In His Adventures, Will Ackles