Little Actions, Big Impact

I have a feeling that I will probably write about many things the Pastor of my church, John Bradshaw of Fellowship of Oso Creek brings up. I think the world of him and his vision for our church. He has been preaching a series centered around the book of James - "from ideation to implementation". Basically, put your faith into action. Don't just read the bible...do what it says. Check out last Sunday's message here. You can also check out Pastor John's blog here.

He spoke about how oftentimes when we set out to accomplish something -- our mission might be pure but we have what's called a 'shadow mission'. For example: I might want to gather food to feed the hungry, but my shadow mission might be that I really like it when people tell me that I'm such a great person for helping the poor. We have to be very careful not to let our 'shadow mission' overshadow our actual mission -- the mission based on good, pure, Christian-like intent. Our self-interest or desire, tends to engage our mind, which in turn traps us. We will find ourselves in a trap if we choose to entertain temptation.

Something else Pastor John mentioned was a story about a little boy's small action that made such an impact. Matthew 18:2-4 says that we must 'humble ourselves like children'. How do you do that? Well, I think a little boy named Rylan Jimenez showed us how, with a little action. At the Hooks game (minor league baseball team), they had entertainment between innings of two 8-year-old boys who had to run to each base, put on a piece of catcher's equipment and whoever got to home plate wearing all the gear fastest, won a t-shirt. As Rylan headed to 2nd base, he realized that he was alone, as he looked back he saw the other boy had fallen and was crying. What would a typical 8-year-old do...or any person for that matter? This little boy was different, he picked up the other boy's chest protector and walked back to meet him on first. He then ran with the boy around the bases....together. When asked by a Caller Times newspaper reporter after the game, "Why did you do that?". He confidently replied, "I thought I just needed to help him. That's what Christians do, that's what Jesus would do." I just got chills..... how incredibly awesome is that? How much did that little boy teach all those spectators at the Hooks game...or all those people who read the article in the paper... or those of you who are reading this now?

How many of us go through our daily routine failing to assist people who have 'fallen'? Now, of course, that doesn't mean they have physically fallen although that could be the case as well. I can speak for myself when I say that I go through every day rushing from one thing to the next. It's rushing to get to work, to rush and get home, to rush and fix, dinner to rush and get the kids in bed... I most definitely need to slow down and 'live at the speed of love' instead of the 'speed of life' as Pastor John had challenged us to do sometime back. You can listen to that message by clicking here as well...scroll down until you see the sermon dated 3.16.08 :)

Some of us probably feel that we can't make an impact... but we can! Small actions such as these can have exponential impact, that is if we allow God to use us the way He intends. Of course, we can only be used if we allow ourselves to be -- it's of our own free will. I believe that by following God's light whispers above all the noise in our lives... is the only way we will be able to experience the fullness of what He has planned for us.