When I stopped by the property today (4/14) to have a look around, I couldn’t help but notice the large earth-moving equipment sitting idle. A quick visual scan of the site left me feeling a bit discouraged as another day would seemingly pass with no visible progress on our project. Then, I noticed in between two of the large machines, a truck with a trailer loaded down with bales of hay. Since no one was in the truck, I decided to get out of my vehicle and go have a look around.
As I walked out into the middle of the site, I noticed some movement toward the south. Because of the distance and the slope, all I could really see from my vantage point was the top of a bobbing head and the up-and-down rhythm of a shovel. Sure enough, there was a man submerged in a concrete drain removing some dirt, one shovel full at a time. He was soon joined by another worker to assist him in the task at hand.
I stood there near the mid-point of this big project site looking around, then turned my gaze back again to the two men with shovels, and it hit me. God routinely uses small things to make big points.
A flood of biblical imagery ran through my mind – small stones and a slingshot (1 Samuel 17:40), the little town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), a fallen sparrow, (Matthew 10:29), a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32), a widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44), a sack lunch (John 6:9-13), a baby in a manger (Luke 2:6-7). I could go on, but I’m guessing you see my point.
Of course, bigger things will have to take place in order for the building to be completed. But today, I’m working on being thankful for a few men with shovels.