Make a difference

Iwatch The News Hour on PBS almost every night. And I’ve been watching story after story about how Syrian war refugees are being pushed out of their homes and into camps where they lack the basic necessities of life. About three weeks ago I had a Popeye moment: I had all I could stand and I just couldn’t stand anymore.

I’m praying. Praying for the people, praying for the leaders of these countries that are fighting, praying for the leadership of our country that could possibly broker peace, but sometimes “just praying” isn’t enough. The church (the church is people and not a building) has to get up and go in order to do something. So that’s where I am: getting a passport, packing a bag and getting ready to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

A lot of Christianity seems like sitting in Ag class judging slides of dairy cows. What I’m saying is when do we get to go outside of the classroom and actually get to see some real cows?

In Luke 5 Jesus sees Peter, Andrew, James and John cleaning their nets after a long night of fishing without success. The Rabbi tells them to go back out and to put their nets into the water for “a catch.” They didn’t want to back out. If you have ever fished all night without catching anything you know how they felt but they did it anyway. After they did what Jesus told them to do. Did you get that? AFTER they did what Jesus told them to do (we call this obedience in the business I’m in) the catch was so large their nets began to break and the boats began to sink.

It seems like we (the church, remember the church is people and not a building) are always just cleaning our nets, getting ready to fish but never really fishing - does that make sense? I keep asking myself, when do we actually start doing this stuff that we have learned and read about?

I’ve been calling the International Mission Board, Baptist Global Response and Samaritan’s Purse again. I’m packed and waiting. The response has been slow, a lot of it has been, “You can’t go to the front lines and share Jesus in those refugee camps.” I don’t know about you but I don’t like being told “No,” it brings out my competitive nature plus the fact that I’m a Tiger.

I know there are a lot of challenges in this mission. Things that are impractical and impossible, but I won’t know until I push the boat into the water and let down the nets that I’ve been cleaning? After, right? After I do what Jesus has told me to do.

There’s a story about a man walking on the beach and there are a jillion starfish that have washed up on the shore. As he walks he throws the starfish back into the ocean. Another man comes along and laughs and says, “What are you doing?” The man throwing the starfish replies, “I’m saving these starfish.” The other man says, “There are too many starfish, there are thousands of them and only one of you. What difference can you make?” As the man picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the ocean he said, “I made a difference to that one.”

Where can you go, even today in your own community and make a difference?

He asked me to ask you that.

“The wilderness...shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.” (Isaiah 35:1)