Just Do the First Next Thing
This week’s message took a bit of a twist from what Pastor Lisa had planned. She intended to continue talking about David, focusing on loyalty. But through an unexpected situation, God gave her a different message at the last minute.
So, she followed God’s leading and went in a different direction.
Keep in mind that we are a rural church. There is a situation in our area where a chicken farm suffered storm damage and needs to move eggs that can no longer be sold.
Unexpectedly, Pastor Lisa and three of her friends, one of whom had a connection to the owner of the chicken farm, went to help package eggs into flats. She had no idea how big the situation was. They packaged around 6,000 eggs that afternoon, and that was just a small portion of what needed to be done. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of eggs that need to go somewhere.
There was an abundance of eggs.
She said she came away from that experience changed.
With so many eggs needing somewhere to go, how was this huge, overwhelming problem ever going to get done? She was reminded of the story about the little boy and the starfish.
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said… “I made a difference for that one.”
It is easy to get overwhelmed by big projects. There are a lot of steps and a lot of moving pieces. Too often, when we’re confronted with something that feels too big, we do what the man on the beach did—we do nothing. Instead, we need to throw one starfish back, then another, and then another.
We need to do what we can, where we can.
Just like the abundance of eggs at the chicken farm, God gives us an abundance. The problem is that we often don’t recognize it. Or we avoid it because it seems so overwhelming.
David was feeling overwhelmed when he was hiding from Saul alone in the cave. In Psalm 142, that feeling of being overwhelmed pours out. He starts by pouring out his complaints, talking about being alone and growing faint. He cries out about the traps that have been set for him and how no one seems to care. Then, shortly afterward, his family and friends show up to support him and stand with him.
In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 we’re told: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
There has been an outpouring of people stepping up to help with the egg situation in multiple ways. Just like the little boy and the starfish, we don’t have to solve the whole problem. We just need to pick up one and throw it back into water.