This month in India was…..beautiful, challenging, rewarding, heart breaking….just so many different things. But there was one consistent thing. The entire month was filled with small, special God moments. These moments, these “Little Things”, served to remind me of just how much God loves me and just how much His heart is for the lost in this world. I want to share these moments with you. I pray that the joy and sadness, the laughs and the sobering moments, move your heart like they did mine.
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Real Generosity
One afternoon Kara, Liz, and I decided to walk to a nearby roadside stand to buy cold sodas. On our way out the door we spotted a couple of the boys who live in the pastor’s house and invited them to walk with us. You see, our pastor and his wife have 8 young boys that live with them in addition to their own two children. Each of these boys come from different villages and social casts, but they all have one thing in common: they are missing a parent. The pastor’s family provides them with a stable place to live, good meals, access to school, and a loving environment centered around God. But life is still hard for them. Whether their parent died or abandoned them, you can see the pain in their eyes from time to time. While living with them this month, we tried to pour out love on a daily basis. By the end, most of them were gleefully accepting our hugs and kisses.
But, let’s return to the muddy village road that cool afternoon. As the five of us walked down the street sidestepping puddles, I realized that one of the boys had split off and was marching up to the counter of a roadside stand. We had planned to go to a different one that we knew had cold drinks, so I opened my mouth to call out to him. Right before I spoke, I realized the stop was for his own shopping purposes. With the swagger that every 10 year old boy seems to have, he approached the shop owner and plopped his pocket of rupees down on the counter. He handled the exchange like a little man, and triumphantly came out a few moments later with a pack of cookies. I smiled to myself, grateful to the Lord that this little one’s mother was able to send him some pocket change to by a treat with every now and then.
We proceeded on our walk as he opened his pack of cookies. With absolutely no hesitancy he took the first 4 cookies and gave one to me, one to Kara, one to Liz, and one to his “brother”, leaving only 2 cookies for himself. There was no question in his actions as to whether or not he should share. He took his little money and his small snack, giving to others what he could have kept for himself. This young boy from a broken home displayed real generosity that day, and my heart is changed because of it.
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For Such a Time as This
On our last Sunday service in India I was sitting in the back of the one room church building just trying to catch a breeze on my face. Sam was moving to the front to share her testimony, so I knew I had at least 5 minutes before it was time for me to preach. I wasn’t thrilled with my sermon, but it had been carefully prepared and written in great detail. I had triple checked my Bible that morning to make sure the notes were tucked safely inside.
As Sam began to speak I felt God whisper to my heart, “For such a time as this…” I smiled. It was part of a scripture passage from the book of Esther, the one I had been planning to write my next sermon with. Right as my mind shifted back to Sam’s testimony, I felt God tugging on it again. The conversation went something like this:
“I want you to share these words with the people.”
“I will God! Next time I preach, once I’ve been able to write everything out and prepare.”
“I want you to share them today.”
“But I only have that one idea. It doesn’t make up a whole sermon.”
“Do you trust me?”
“……Yes……”
And with that, the Holy Spirit began to pour His words into my mind. I grabbed a pen and quickly jotted down basic notes including a couple more scripture passages and the main theme for the sermon: how God’s timing and plans are perfect. The final note was hastily scribbled as I made my way to the front of the room to speak.
A quick prayer, a deep breath, and I dove right into the message. God gave me exactly the words to share all the while reminding me to trust His plans for “such a time as this.”
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Out of the Ditch
I could hear them, the plaintive cries of baby goats stuck in the ditch. As our taxi pulled up to the village house I leaped out of the car and ran over. There they were: three baby goats floundering around in the liquid filth that reached up to their bellies. All of them bleating and crying out for someone, anyone, to rescue them.
It was not the first time these goats had been trapped in the ditch. They were constantly trying to follow the older goats across, a leap their little legs weren’t ready to make. You see, on one side of the fence was their home; on the other side of the fence was the rest of the village. Freedom, or so they thought. It appeared as if they simply couldn’t learn the lesson. Stuck in their own stubborn ways they would daily jump and fail. And let me tell you, this ditch was disgusting. Trash, mud, water, animal poop….and some of the village people used it as a toilet. This was not a pleasant place in which to spend any time.
Are you seeing the connection here? The one between your own life and that of the baby goats? We are rarely content to stay where God has us, especially if we believe there is something better just across the muddy ditch. We are envious of what others get to experience, so we run away from God and try to follow them. And that’s when we land in the ditch. Hopelessly stuck in the muck and mire God never intended for us to experience.
Just like when God looks at us, my heart broke for the goats. Even though I knew they would be stuck again by tomorrow, I couldn’t let them linger in the filth of their decisions any longer. So I hitched up my ankle length skirt, squatted down, and lifted them out of the revolting ditch water one by one. Then I placed them back on the side of the ditch where they belonged, at their home.
This is exactly what God does for us day in and day out. When we get ourselves stuck in the ditch between God’s will and our earthly desires, He is there waiting for our cries for help. He knows we will eventually be stuck there again, but He rescues us every time anyway. God loves us too much to let us linger in the filth any longer than we have to. Today spend sometime thanking the Lord for always rescuing you from the ditch, and next time think twice before you jump.
