"God never calls me to do great things. He calls me to do small things with great love." --Mother Theresa
Last "Monday's Inspiration" I featured Anthony Hodge--one of my co-workers at Spraggins Builder Services. (Since then Ann left a comment with a link to a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel about Anthony. Thanks Ann!)
The day my wife and I first interviewed Anthony, we were at a church in the area where he conducts his Lost Sheep Street Ministry. This gave us a chance to get a first-hand look into his world and heart. Here's the story...
A lady in the neighborhood asked Anthony to come see the physical condition her church building was in. As they opened the front door the bottom half fell off! It bothered Anthony that "God's house was is such bad shape": so Anthony sprung into action.
He began donating his time on weekends to work on what the old building needed but saw that this was a huge project. So he turned to some Christian business leaders help. He first approached John Thurmon of Westbrook Service Corporation, who donated and installed a new AC unit for the building.
He later approached Michael Tremain (MT), CEO and part-owner of our company. (MT's story will be featured at some point in this blog as someone constantly reaching out to make a difference.) After hearing about this need, MT came to his management team and suggested we take a day for team-building and help work on the church.
One of our guys, Matt Hamel, has really given himself to the success of this project. Matt is a great leader and knows his way around a construction site. Under his leadership this little church received quite a face-lift. New doors, new bathrooms, new carpet and tile, new trim work, new windows, new paint inside and out, new pavers and landscaping. The "one-day" project turned into almost 2 weeks of oversight and work for Matt.
Matt Hamel at the Job Site
As the project grew in scope, more and more people got involved. Various businesses donated material. Ray Dye, who works for one of our clients, donated his time and equipment to handle the painting of the church.
In the end, Matt hit his deadline; the face-lift was completed for yesterday's church service! I have a photo set of the project in my flickr photos if you want to check it out.
Reflections: I've noticed a common theme since starting my blog has been this sense of feeling overwhelmed by the amount of "need" in this world. I mentioned compassion fatigue in my first entry. I've begun to get educated about the AIDS pandemic in Africa. I shared about the work of IJM in bringin justice for the oppressed peoples of the world. Today, I read an excellent post on JR Woodward's blog where he expresses a "holy discontentment" as he longs for more of these sorts of needs to be met.
What I like about Anthony is that he embodies the quote above. His work is not glamorous nor is it large in scope. But, I see in him a willingness to do something about the needs God brings his way. He steps out to do the small things with great love. I see that in John. I see that in MT. I see that in Matt. I see that in Ray. I see that in the many people that stepped up to get this project done.
Isaac Hunter gave a brilliant message this weekend about faithfully loving those God brings into our path. He is doing a series on holiness--which he says is best understood as becoming more and more like Jesus. He shared that God does not call us to be important--He calls us to be helpful and to love. Importance, significance, recognition are fleeting badges of honor. What matters is the many little and small decisions we do in great love.
Perhaps the antidote to "compassion fatigue" is to consistently do what I can with the opportunities God brings into my life. To do lots of little things with great love.
Jeff
I work for GCM and found your blog through Eric Asp's. I have worked in the GCM HQ coordinating short term mission trips for 2 yrs and am moving to College Station, TX to work for Fellowship Church in June.
However, I wanted to say I think that it's awesome that you and your family are getting educated about Africa. God has taken me on my own journey to learn all about Africa and the AIDS epidemic over the past 5 or so years. I am always so encouraged to see families learn more about it. I attended the AIDS summit in California last year with my dad and it was an incredible experience. I would highly recommend taking your girls if you can. I also will be getting more involved with work in Nigeria (where there is the largest number of AIDS orphans) and if you or your family wants more info, let me know!
Jenni
jenni.sternberg@gmail.com
Posted by: Jenni Sternberg | May 22, 2007 at 05:34 PM