Small Beginnings

I love the quote from Mother Teresa, "Ek. Ek. Ek.", which directly translated from Hindi means, One. One. One. More often than not, my dad has had to admonish me to stop trying to eat the whole elephant at one time. I see the whole picture and can become overwhelmed. I can't see or imagine how it will all get done and work out, even though, somehow, it usually does.

As I type this, Josh Groban is in the background singing, "You raise me up so I can stand on mountains. You raise me up to walk on stormy seas...." Everyone knows, you only get to the top of that mountain, one step at a time.

It is with one step in the right direction and much tenacity, I have observed fellow believers to be flourishing and spreading their wings in my hometown and its surrounding communities. Thus, I am reminded to not despise small beginnings.

Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting a new church, only 6 minutes down the road from where I live. A friend of mine was preaching. Traveling south, I saw the sign for Bridge Builders Community Church and turned left into the parking lot of the school they rent space from. As I pulled up towards the building, I saw about five or six vehicles. When I walked through the side entrance of the school, I saw a large rectangular table with a variety of literature and information about the church and other services. One of the women walking towards the meeting area, pleasantly welcomed me. I could hear guitars playing on the other side of the bluish green partition.

My friend, Jay, welcomed me with a hug and explained the rest of his crew was home sick, including his dear wife, Chris. Shortly after, Pastor Tim walked in and greeted me with a great smile, pleased to see I had come. Although there were not more than 25 people there in all, there was a pleasant sweetness. Bridge Builders began just two years ago this month. With a clean up day planned for next month and a variety of other activities shared during the announcements, I could easily tell these were people looking to bless others and declare a message of hope and healing.

It brought me back to my younger years as a teenager, when my family was meeting in a small home church setting in the city. The couple from Missouri had relocated to the area to plant a church and started in their home. We were small for quite a few years, but gradually grew and as God led, became part of another church which rented different places, before finally buying our own building.

After Pastor Charles had retired and moved back down south to be closer to his family, we united with a larger church in the city. Today, we are part of a congregation with over 300 people. We reach out into the city to meet the needs of the people in our community and love people to Christ.

It is exciting to see that other churches are sprouting up in neighboring towns outside of the city to do the same. Many hands make light work. With believers spreading out and sharing the love combined with a message of healing, there's no telling what will be accomplished in the years to come. There's no telling and no stopping. It's good to remember, one. One. One.

From little acorns, mighty oaks do grow.

Proverbs 14:23, "All hard work brings a profit.."

Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."