Beyond What I Can Do

The other day I helped lead Beaverton Foursquare's Young Adult team, as we went out to a very close neighborhood/small tent camp, to help lay small rocks for the floor of a beginning school. When we arrived, there were at least twenty children under the age of twelve ready to greet us. We said "Hello" and went to work. However; we didn't realize it but soon our team of six multiplied into sixteen as a bunch of the young boys helped scrape up the rock, load the wheel barrows and buckets, and lay it under the building. There was a point where half our Beaverton team stopped working and began to love on and play with the kids. I continued to work, as I focussed on the task at hand. As I pushed a full wheel barrow to where we were putting the rock, I had four kids running along side me the entire way there, and I thought they just wanted to help me. My thinking was right, but their "help" was not what I had in mind. They did help strengthen my muscles, because after I emptied my load of rock, I received another load of three boys who wanted a ride back. They were just as heavy and a lot more "rocky" as they shifted and moved around in the wheel barrow. It was a bit irritating at first when my work got harder and took longer, but the Lord spoke to me and helped me realize the amazing moment that was taking place.

Romans 4:23-24 says: "And when God counted him [Abraham] as righteous, it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was recorded for our benefit too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

When I read this verse it made me think about how Abraham had a promise and (3:18) even when there was no reason to hope, Abraham kept hoping - believing that he would become the father of many nations. So... because of Abraham's choice to believe and have faith in the Lord, he was counted as righteous. But his righteousness wasn't fully for him, it was for us too. His life and the way he lived it, impacts me and my life, here and now. With all the things I am doing here in Haiti, I believe that what I do can be so much more impacting if I choose to hope, live by faith, and love as I am commanded. Even when I have a day like the last two where I am involved in building/lackering/giving away benches, making almost 200 cement pavers, building the foundation for a chicken coup and talapia farm, putting up tents at a clinic, filtering 1000 gallons of water, driving a stick shift on the streets of Haiti, helping organize a mass clothing give away, and keeping a team I just met, focussed... none if it matters, if I don't seek and listen to the Lord. But when I do seek His face, those things I do, do impact and change lives beyond what see or imagine.

Paul says something along the line of how, if anyone has reason to boast about the things they have done, he does, because he followed the Law flawlessly. However, he realizes none of it matters when compared to knowing the Lord. When I came to Haiti in May, I saw how God can give people strength beyond what they have when they allow themselves to depend completely on God. Now I see that I have to continue to desire this heart, because if I ever move in my own strength, it will lead to frustration and irritation, as things don't go my way. But as I listen to the Lord and obey, I will begin to receive a greater strength and He will be able to do greater things through me, beyond what I can do.