When You Can See You’re Making a Difference

Let me take you on a journey of 3 things that have happened this week that are all inter-connected and that could have a huge impact on how you see life.

This week Lisa and I bought a new vacuum cleaner…it’s one of those bag-less one’s that has a clear canister in the front so you can actually see it filling up with dirt and stuff.  Lisa loves it!  The first day she says…”You’ve got come see this thing.  I love being able to see that I’m actually accomplishing something.”

Last night at small group part of the conversation was about tough times where you weren’t sure what God was up to.  Both Andy and Gayle were sharing how tough it was to leave their former church to come to CFCOG to help with United which from what I understand was basically on life-support at the time.  Andy said it was most weeks 30-40 people, with little organization.  Every week it was last minute finding people to usher, do announcements, run equipment etc.  Gayle shared that she often cried out of frustration wondering why God had brought them there.  Despite the temptation to leave and go somewhere else where it was more comfortable, they both knew that God had called them there for some reason and so they persevered.

As they shared the story of their struggle I couldn’t help but get a little emotional.  You see my life and ministry were forever altered because they were obedient to God.  It was Andy who called me after Purpose Driven laid me off to see if I was interested in coming to Chambersburg to partner with them in breathing life into what we now call the United Worship Experience.  Today almost 1 1/2 years later we can look back and see the awesome work that God has done.  Think of it this way…more people came into a relationship with Christ last year in United than what used to attend as recently as August 2006!  Gayle, like Lisa with her vacuum cleaner, said, “Many times it’s hard to look back and be able to see what God was up to, but this is so obvious and it feels great to know that we’re making a difference.”  I also liked Andy’s attitude when he said, “The last year has been great but I feel like we’re just on the tip of the iceberg.”

Then last night I get home and there’s an e-mail from one of our young adults in the church who shared that over the last few weeks she’s been inviting friends and co-workers to United and they’re coming and there lives are being changed.  Here’s what she had to say about the one guy who she’s been inviting for about a year…”You know all those times i wanted to just give up and stop praying for him and now i see what God did and its so amazing.”  Again, another example of someone being able to visibly see that they are making a difference.

So what about you?  In what area is God calling you to persevere?  Who is it that you need to keep praying for?  Who is it that you need to invite to come with you this Sunday?  You never know what God is up to…but if you’ll be obedient, you too will be able to look back and say, “Wow my life is making a difference!”