Iglesia Bautista Berea, downtown Cancun, celebrates its 26th Anniversary today. As I was getting my presentation ready for this evening, I came across a few pictures that took me back even further than that.
This one is of Linda, Jeremy and Rebekah in the cab of our 1961, 4-wheel drive pickup, leaving the States en route to language school in Guadalajara, Mexico, December, 1976.
My first reaction was, how did we ever survive? No Spanish, no experience, no friends, no clarity as to how we would ever remotely accomplish what we had set out to do...
I remember feeling overwhelmed by my own smallness: what could I ever do? We were doomed to fail. Since then, we have been close to the brink on more than one occasion, close enough to think that throwing in the towel was our best alternative.
“For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel [with] those seven; they [are] the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” (Zec 4:10 AV)
Zerrubbabel was a guy with a handful of people, a huge task in hand and naysayers everywhere he turned. He must have been struggling with his own smallness for God to have spoken to him like that.
I didn't really believe it right away, but when I look back now, I have to admit that no one is too small for God to use, not even me!
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Ro 8:31 AV)
The important thing is to want His perfect will, whatever that might entail. The next important thing is to be patient... very patient... for a very long time... even years.
Thanks for the message and encouragement. I needed that this morning. I have been on many occasions ready to "throw in the towel", it seems someone or something is always there to stop me. You have accomplished a lot.
ReplyDeleteDad in Tomahawk