On our morning walks Lindsay and I would frequently see a young man on his bike, who I can only describe as a little puppy. His eyes filled with joy each time we saw him and he never failed to seen us out, just to say hello. His name is Chukumbutso, pronounced chew-kum-BOOT-so.
Chukumbutso is a man of business. He rides out on his bike each morning at 4:30 to small neighborhood shops and sells paper. He started his business a little less than a year ago, and let me tell you, he has big dreams. Each day with pride in his heart he would tell us how his business would one day stretch beyond the neighborhood shops to the stores that inhabited the malls in town. He talked about one day being able to own a car and hire employees, being able to own a bigger house and support a family. But for now he’s content with riding his bike along the dirt roads every morning, sometimes not making a sale, but getting to know the people he sees every day.
All great things have a humble beginning.
The wonder of this friendship, no matter how short-lived, came not from us leading him to to Lord, or having crazy spiritual conversations with him, but from the encouragement he gave me unknowingly. So consistently in my life I’ve had to understand that where I’m at in the moment, the small ideas or struggles to bring those ideas to life, is not insignificant. There’s something greater on the horizon that this hard work is leading to. I’m nearing the end of my trip, and getting close to a wedding, and building a family, and building my ministry, and, and, and. And sometimes it feels like it will never come, or sometimes I feel like I can’t even envision what it looks like, but I know the great things are coming. The little bits and pieces that I am giving tidbits of my time to now are going toward the bigger picture; all I have to do is work with the faith and knowledge that I’m getting closer to seeing that bigger picture.
